Chemnai, Sept 3:
A political exchange erupted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday after Water Resources Minister R Anand claimed that the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and its leader Vijay had provided electoral opportunities to Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar, Revenue Minister KA Sengottaiyan and several other leaders to enter the Assembly.
The remarks came during the debate after Sankarapuram MLA R Rakesh highlighted the political legacy of the AIADMK.
Rakesh said the AIADMK had ruled Tamil Nadu for nearly three decades and would continue to remain a major political force for generations. He also referred to JCD Prabhakar and Sengottaiyan as leaders whose political careers had been shaped by the AIADMK.
Responding to the remarks, Minister Anand argued that the political circumstances had changed and that it was TVK and Vijay who had given Prabhakar, Sengottaiyan and others the opportunity to contest the recent Assembly election and enter the House.
The exchange subsequently turned into a discussion on the political contribution of the AIADMK and TVK to the careers of the two senior leaders.
Revenue Minister KA Sengottaiyan, who has decades of political experience, also spoke about the difficult phase he had faced in his political career.
Sengottaiyan said there had been a period when he was uncertain about his political future following a series of setbacks. According to him, Chief Minister Vijay subsequently gave him an opportunity and helped him return to electoral politics.
The comments highlighted the political transition involving several veteran leaders who moved from the AIADMK to TVK ahead of the 2026 Assembly election.
Sengottaiyan had joined TVK after a long association with the AIADMK, while JCD Prabhakar, another former AIADMK leader, subsequently contested the Thousand Lights constituency on the TVK ticket.
Prabhakar was later elected Speaker of the 17th Tamil Nadu Assembly. Sengottaiyan was appointed Leader of the House.
The latest exchange in the Assembly thus brought into focus the changing political trajectories of two experienced legislators and the role claimed by TVK in their return to electoral prominence.