Chennai: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has demanded that chief minister C Joseph Vijay reopen Amma Clinics to shield people from exorbitant prices fixed by drug companies. He also chaired a district secretaries’ meeting in Chennai where rebel leaders S P Velumani and Natham Viswanathan were absent. Former police officer S Velladurai joined the party on the sidelines of the district secretaries’ meeting, triggering speculation that he might be fielded as the party’s bypoll candidate in Ambasamudram.
Velladurai, who retired from service in 2024, had turned a supporter of V K Sasikala . He was fielded as a candidate of All India Puratchi Thalaivar Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam headed by her in the 2026 assembly election in Nanguneri assembly constituency.
MGR was a mountain, but the CM now is just a mound,” he told reporters. AIADMK functionaries said the subject of bypolls did come up during the district secretaries’ meeting, but candidates were not discussed. “Let the announcement of elections come, we shall speak about it after that,” Palaniswami told reporters after the meeting when asked whether AIADMK was prepared for the bypolls. Palaniswami said the state govt was keen on increasing liquor prices but the same attention was not given to pharmacies.
However, he was defeated. With Sasikala herself distancing herself from AIPTMMK, Velladurai has opted to join AIADMK. “Chief minister C Joseph Vijay cannot be compared to MGR (the late CM M G Ramachandran).
Earlier in the day, he cited a report on rising drug prices and flayed TVK govt for not reopening Amma Clinics.