TIRUNELVELI
With the AIADMK MLAs defecting to the ruling Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam after losing trust in their general secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Ambasamudram MLA Esakki Subaya is the latest to join this list as he resigned his post and embraced the ruling party on Tuesday.
Interestingly, Tirunelveli district with 5 Assembly segments already has 3 TVK MLAs - R.S. Murughan from Tirunelveli, Reddiyarpatti V. Narayanan from Nangnuneri and Satheesh Christopher from Radhapuram - while DMK has won Palayamkottai.
After joining the AIADMK, Mr. Esakki Subaya, one of the notable civil contractors of Tamil Nadu executing government contracts, was fielded in Ambasamudram in 2011. When the novice comfortably defeated DMK’s district secretary R. Avudaiyappan by a margin of 24,609 votes after garnering more than 55% votes polled in the Assembly election in Ambasamudram constituency, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa inducted him in her Cabinet as Minister of Law, Courts and Prisons.
But his happiness did not last long as he was dropped from the Cabinet on the 49th day of the swearing in ceremony following charges against him. Moreover, the angered Jayalalithaa also denied him ticket in the next Assembly election in 2016.
After Jayalalithaa’s demise, Mr. Esakki Subaya, who was desperately waiting for his political renaissance, joined T.T.V. Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam in 2017 to become its organising secretary and was fielded as AMMK candidate in South Chennai Parliamentary constituency in 2019 only to bite dust. Hence, he returned to the AIADMK in 2019 itself and got fielded in Ambasamudram constituency in 2021 again to defeat Mr. Avudaiyappan by a margin of 16,915 votes.
The 2026 Assembly polls held on April 23 too went in Mr. Esakki Subaya’s favour wherein he defeated Congress candidate V.P. Durai by a margin of 10,245 votes.
Ambasamudram is now facing a by-poll following the resignation of Mr. Esakki Subaya, who says that he had resigned as AIADMK MLA considering the “welfare of Ambasamudram citizens”.
“As a MLA, I should be able to do something good for every citizen of my constituency, Ambasamudram. Since I may not be able to perform well as a AIADMK MLA even as the C. Joseph Vijay-led Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam is in power, I’ve resigned my post to join the TVK. As a TVK man, I can serve better to the people of Ambasamudram,” Mr. Esakki Subaya says.
Unlike DMK or Congress candidates, Mr. Esakki Subaya, who has not done anything big for his Ambasamudram constituency even though was a 3-time MLA, is quite popular among the voters owing to his down-to-earth approach and has been accessible to the public. In all likelihood, Mr. Esakki Subaya is to be fielded again in the upcoming by-poll as TVK candidate.
Interestingly, TVK contestant for Ambasamudram constituency in the 2026 Assembly poll, S. Rajagopal polled 53,611 votes to get third spot while Mr. Esakki Subaya, as AIADMK candidate, garnered 65,589 votes. Hence, he is confident of winning the by-poll also.
However, the adjoining Alangulam constituency that elected P.H. Manoj Pandian of AIADMK in the 2021 polls, did not repose its faith in him this time when he was fielded as DMK contestant after defecting to the ruling party.
When Mr. Esakki Subaya joined the TVK on Tuesday after resigning as MLA, AIADMK’s State joint secretary of propaganda wing ‘Popular’ Muthaiah and party’s organising secretary A.K. Srinivasan also joined the 2-year-old party in the presence of Ministers K.A. Sengottaiyan and Bussy Anand.