Prateek Tanmay
3 min readChennaiJul 2, 2026 08:43 PM IST
First published on: Jul 2, 2026 at 08:43 PM IST
The steady migration of influential AIADMK leaders into Tamil Nadu’s ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) gathered fresh momentum on Thursday, with former Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and former Transport Minister M R Vijayabhaskar, along with two other former ministers, several former legislators and thousands of cadres, formally joining Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s party in what is the biggest single political crossover since the 2026 Assembly election.
The induction took place at a private resort in Mamallapuram in the presence of TVK general secretary and Water Resources Minister N Anand, Public Works and Sports Development Minister Aadhav Arjuna and several other Cabinet ministers.
M R Vijayabhaskar and C Vijayabaskar, once among the AIADMK’s most influential district satraps, had resigned from the Assembly in recent weeks after breaking ranks with the party during the May 13 confidence motion, when they were among the 25 AIADMK legislators who voted in favour of the Vijay government in defiance of the party Whip.
C Vijayabaskar, who served as Health Minister between 2013 and 2021 under former Chief Ministers J Jayalalithaa, O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami, had represented the Viralimalai constituency four consecutive times, besides earlier winning from Pudukkottai in 2001. Widely regarded as the AIADMK’s strongest leader in Pudukkottai district, he resigned his Assembly seat on June 16.
Karur MLA M R Vijayabhaskar resigned from the Assembly on June 29 after accusing the AIADMK leadership of steering the party in the wrong direction.
C Vijayabaskar said the crossover reflected growing dissatisfaction within the AIADMK organisation. Former Forest Minister M S M Anandan and former Backward Classes Welfare Minister S Valarmathi also joined the ruling party, along with former MLAs E M Manraj, M S R Rajavarman, S V Thirugnanasambandam, Sundararajan and Ramachandran, besides dozens of district-level office-bearers.
Latest in spate of departures
The latest defections come less than a month after four other former AIADMK ministers, M C Sampath, N R Sivapathi, Kadambur C Raju and Udumalai K Radhakrishnan, crossed over to the TVK. Before that, the four AIADMK MLAs had resigned and were inducted into TVK — Maragatham Kumaravel, S Jayakumar, P Sathyabama and Esakki Subaya.
The continuing exodus has fuelled speculation that more AIADMK legislators may cross over in the coming weeks, despite the party leadership restoring organisational positions to some rebels after the confidence vote.
The DMK dismissed the latest inductions with sarcasm. Party parliamentary leader Kanimozhi likened the TVK to the BJP’s alleged “washing machine” politics.
“Is it true that this new Tamil Nadu washing machine can even wash away the stain of the gutka scam?” she asked, referring to allegations earlier faced by C Vijayabaskar.
