Overview
- The MDMK’s General Council passed a resolution on Saturday formally withdrawing the party from the nine-year-old DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance.
- Leaders said the split was driven by anger over limited seat allocation and being forced to contest on the DMK’s Rising Sun symbol, which they say weakened the MDMK’s independent identity.
- The party accused post-election negotiations of subverting the public mandate and of secret moves to install an AIADMK-aligned government, language used in the resolution to justify the exit.
- MDMK has opened lines to the ruling TVK, including meetings between Vaiko’s camp and Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, but it stopped short of formally joining the TVK-led front.
- Internal fissures complicate immediate effects because both MDMK MLAs won on the DMK symbol and at least one, R. Senthil Selvan, is reported to be staying on as an MLA under the DMK banner, limiting any instant change to assembly numbers and raising the prospect of future resignations or bypolls.