It was on June 16, 2026, that the former Health Minister and AIADMK stalwart made it official, and the Speaker saw fit to accept it, leaving the seat open. In the wake of this year’s Assembly elections, you have to see it as part of a pattern of well-known faces walking over to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.
Why the resignation matters
In the post-poll shuffle, Vijayabaskar is the fifth from the AIADMK to go. You had Maragatham Kumaravel, S. Jayakumar, P. Sathyabama and Esakki Subaya before him, all of whom have made the switch to the TVK in what looks like a power play for the ruling party.
You can’t ignore when it happens. Back on May 13, during the vote of confidence for C. Joseph Vijay’s government, Vijayabaskar was there in the thick of it, not following the whip’s line. Now that he is out, it puts a finer point on the state of the opposition's resolve.
Some of the salient points:
– The Speaker has given the nod
– Viralimalai is now a vacancy
– Makes five for the AIADMK so far
– All in the aftermath of the 2026 polls
How it went down
Vijayabaskar made the trip to the Secretariat in Chennai to put his letter in front of Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar himself. By the Speaker’s own account, everything was in order with Rule 21 and 22, and it was done with no delay.
On paper, the result is straightforward: the Viralimalai spot is unoccupied. For the AIADMK, the after-effects are a bit more of a mess and will be with them for some time.
His track record
He’s an AIADMK man from his university days. As Health Minister between 2013 and 2021, he worked under Jayalalithaa, O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami. First up in the Assembly from Pudukkottai in 2001, he has since been returned from Viralimalai in 2011, 2016, 2021 and 2026.
A widening exodus to TVK
This is all part of a larger picture. Word from the party is that over 300 of their people were at the Panaiyur headquarters last week to join the TVK, which says it all about where the wind is blowing.
They were in good company: Vellamandi Natarajan, Mylapore’s old MLA Natraj, Anandan, and Sadhan Prabhakar of Paramakudi. Trade union head Kamalakkannan and D.T. Kumar from Tirupathur were on hand as well.
TVK’s top brass was there to see it through – N. Anand, Sengottaiyan and Aadhav Arjuna. It was a way of showing the new arrivals they had the full weight of the leadership behind them.
Defectors’ rationale and the AIADMK challenge
When Udumalai Radhakrishnan put his name to the list with Trichy N.R. Sivapathi, Kadambur Raju and others, he put the AIADMK's waning fortunes down to the void left by Jayalalithaa. “Under her, there was no question of discipline,” he said, and that can’t be put back together.
He and the rest of them felt they were being hamstrung in recent years, and the TVK has been more than accommodating. He even drew a line from M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa to C. Joseph Vijay, saying the ideals are in safe hands.
What comes next
The AIADMK has some rethinking to do, both in the organisation and in the legislature, with a vacant seat in Viralimalai and some of its best minds gone. The question is whether they can put a stop to the resignations and get in line while the TVK is still making inroads. Down the road, it may very well be these new alignments that tell the story of how things are run in the constituencies.
