Karuppasami Pandian
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Former MLA and one of the organising secretaries of the AIADMK V. Karuppasamy Pandian, 75, passed away here on Wednesday (March 26, 2025)
He is survived by his wife, 3 sons and 2 daughters. Pandian breathed his last even as he was sleeping in his home at Thiruththu near Palayamkottai.
When the then emperor of silver screens in Tamil Nadu M.G. Ramachandran floated Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in 1972, 24-year-old Karuppasamy Pandian became a member of the party and got elected to Tamil Nadu Assembly from Alangulam constituency in 1977 and again from Palayamkottai in 1980 elections. But his attempt to get re-elected from Palayamkottai suffered a blow in 1984. He also worked under former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
When the AIADMK suffered the split after the demise of MGR in December 1987, Pandian chose to support Jayalalithaa in the midst of the factional tussle between Jayalalithaa and Janaki faction tussle and contested the1989 Assembly election from Alangulam in the ‘Rooster’ symbol. But he lost the hustings and Jayalalithaa’s faith and chose to leave the AIADMK.
When Jayalalithaa became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1991, Pandian returned to the party again and was appointed as deputy general secretary in 1996.
His political career suffered a major blow when Jayalalithaa expelled Pandian from the AIADMK for anti-party activities in 2000 and he immediately joined hands with arch-rival, the DMK, in May 2000. After enjoying various positions in the DMK and losing the 2001 Assembly election as DMK candidate in Tenkasi, he successfully contested the Assembly elections in the same segment in 2006. However, Pandian’s next attempt in 2011 in this constituency became futile as lost the poll to actor R. Sarathkumar.
Pandian’s political career suffered another blow as he was suspended from the DMK in May 2015 for his alleged role in appointing his son V.K.P. Shankar in a party post and returned to the AIADMK in July 2016 even though he had unleashed harsh criticism against party supremo Jayalalithaa during his stay with the DMK.
After the demise of Jayalalithaa in 2016, he was appointed one of the organising secretaries of the AIADMK by the late Chief Minister’s close confidante V.K. Sasikala. But, he resigned this post in February 2017 claiming he could not digest the appointment of TTV Dhinakaran as party’s deputy general secretary and joined the DMK in 2018 after the demise of M. Karunanidhi with the hope of getting key responsibility in the party as M.K. Stalin took over the party.
When his hopes got dashed and repeated appeals to the party high command for a vital post went unheard, Pandian joined the AIADMK in January 2020 and accepted the leadership of Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
Published – March 26, 2025 08:38 am IST
