Overview
- Thoppu Venkatachalam announced on Monday that he has resigned his primary DMK membership and relinquished party posts after being relieved as Erode Central district secretary.
- He said 'bitter experiences' and resulting mental anguish during the last Assembly election prompted his decision and his supporters have pointed to intra-party rivalry involving S. Muthusamy as a factor in his defeat.
- Venkatachalam is a former AIADMK minister who joined the DMK in July 2021, stood as the party’s 2026 Perundurai candidate and lost with 60,609 votes to S. Jayakumar’s 70,302 votes.
- The Perundurai seat is vacant after Jayakumar resigned to join the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, and the Madras High Court has put an interim stay on notifying bypolls with the matter listed until September 8.
- Venkatachalam said he will not join another party immediately, expressed continued respect for DMK leader M. K. Stalin, and said he will focus on pushing development projects in Perundurai while keeping his future options open.