AIADMK leader N Thalavai Sundaram.
Credit: X/@ThalavaiSundar4
Chennai: Senior AIADMK leader N Thalavai Sundaram was on Tuesday “relieved temporarily” as the secretary and organising secretary of the party’s Kanyakumari (East) district unit, two days after he flagged off a RSS route march.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said in a statement that action against Thalavai Sundaram - MLA from Kanyakumari and a former minister in J Jayalalithaa’s cabinet - is being taken for contradicting the party’s ideology and goals.
“Since there is a need to investigate complaints of him going against party rules, Thalavai Sundaram has been temporarily relieved of his party posts,” Palaniswami added.
Thalavai Sundaram is one among the senior second-rung leaders of AIADMK, having held various positions like a minister, Rajya Sabha MP, and the state government’s representative to New Delhi. He is the lone AIADMK MLA from Kanyakumari district.
The action by the party comes two days after Thalavai Sundaram flagged off a route march organised by the RSS in Kanyakumari to commemorate the 100th year of its founding. His participation in the event triggered a row at a time the AIADMK is increasingly distancing itself from the BJP as it prepares to take on the DMK in the 2026 assembly polls.
AIADMK quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and snapped its ties with the BJP in 2023 after blaming K Annamalai for the decision. Since then, the AIADMK has been attacking the BJP on a host of issues, while asserting that there was no scope of any rapprochement between the two parties.
Political observers say Palaniswami suspending Thalavai Sundaram, one of his confidantes, from party posts is seen as his assertion that any action that fuels speculation of the AIADMK and BJP coming together yet again won’t be taken lightly.
Reacting to his suspension, Thalavai Sundaram said he was not bothered about any action by the AIADMK. “I have been flagging off the march for the past few years. I was invited in my capacity as the MLA of Kanyakumari and I only exercised my duty towards my constituency. There is nothing wrong in flagging an RSS march,” he said.