Chennai: Ahead of the district secretaries’ meeting scheduled to be held on 5 November, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami has tightened his grip over the party’s organisation, looking closely at the performance of the 82 AIADMK district secretaries in the state.
The performance report of the 82 district secretaries prepared by the party’s war room, which was set up earlier this year, is believed to show that the party’s western region district secretaries are functioning far better than their counterparts in the northern and southern regions of the state.
According to sources privy to the report, in the western region, former minister, AIADMK headquarters secretary and chief whip of AIADMK in the assembly S.P. Velumani continues to dominate his region.
“Apart from S.P. Velumani, Coimbatore, Salem, Erode, Namakkal, Tiruppur and Karur district secretaries are also performing well and it is a stronghold since 2016. Despite the senior AIADMK leader from Erode. Sengottaiyan being removed from the party, the region remains the best (chance) for revival of the party in the 2026 assembly election,” the source privy to the report told ThePrint.
Among the best performing district secretaries in the western region, Salem’s suburban district secretary Elango and Namakkal’s district secretary former minister P. Thangamani outperformed other district secretaries in the region in terms of keeping the party alive on the ground, despite the DMK former minister and western region in-charge V. Senthil Balaji’s dominance in the western region.
Political analysts in the state said there is a shift in EPS’ approach towards party workers ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.
“EPS is no longer looking just for loyalty and leader appeasement. He is really looking for results on the ground. Equipped with decades of traditional election handling knowledge, now EPS is also tightening his grip over the party to lead the party to victory,” said political analyst N. Sathiyamoorthy, adding that one has to wait and watch if his actions would bring him the desired results.
“With the 2026 election expected to be fought amid anti-incumbency against the DMK, EPS appears to be building a constituency-by-constituency revival map,” Sathiya Moorthy added.
A senior AIADMK leader in the western region said that the report of district secretaries’ performance will be the basis for the crucial strategy meeting to be convened on 5 November with district secretaries in Chennai.
“While the meeting is called only on 5 November, the meeting might be extended to one more day to discuss districtwise strategy for the 2026 assembly election,” the senior AIADMK leader in the western region said.
Another senior AIADMK functionary told ThePrint that the party leadership wants to drop non-performing district chiefs, and bring in fresh, energetic local faces before the assembly elections.
“The message from the top is clear, no one gets a ticket or post based on loyalty alone. Only ground performance counts,” the senior AIADMK functionary told ThePrint, referring to EPS removing over 40 AIADMK local functionaries in the Erode district before sacking the minister from the party’s primary membership.
Mixed reports from south and north TN
While the western region remains robust, the report highlights uneven performance in northern and southern Tamil Nadu.
According to the source privy to the report, in the northern region, former minister and MP C.Ve. Shanmugam is said to be active on the field to counter the dominance of former NDA ally PMK and DMK ally VCK. The report also pointed out that former Minister C. Vijayabaskar has been influential in the region despite not being in power for the last four years.
“He outperforms the incumbent DMK Minister Raghupathi and is said to have a strong public connect,” the source told ThePrint.
Similarly, in the southern region, according to the source, Minister Sellur Raju and R.B. Udhayakumar have a strong public connection across the region, although they are not active on social media.
However, in the southern region, former ministers including K.T. Rajendra Balaji from Virudhunagar district in the south maintain friendly relations with rival DMK.
The senior AIADMK leader quoted above recalled that EPS had warned party leaders against friendly relations with DMK.
“In one of the district secretaries’ meetings held earlier this year, our leader had warned that district secretaries were being monitored and asked (them) to be careful while commenting on political developments. He had also warned against having a friendly relationship with rival DMK,” the senior leader recalled.
Despite the strong performance of former ministers in the region, the report attributed their reduced dominance to the intense contest among major political parties.
“With BJP positioning its state president Nainar Nagendran from the southern region, and DMK also concentrating on expanding its base in the southern region by deputing the party’s deputy general secretary and MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi for the region, it is making it tough for AIADMK to strengthen its organisation in the region,” the source privy to the report told ThePrint.
As far as the northern region is concerned, the source noted that the dominance of PMK and VCK in the belt is making it difficult to make inroads fully, except few pockets in the region.
“For instance, former minister Shanmugam has strengthened his base in Villupuram, and local functionaries have strengthened the party unit in Kallakurichi district, but that could not be done in Ariyalur, Perambalur and other districts because of PMK and VCK’s dominance,” the source told ThePrint.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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