AIADMK MLA MR Vijayabhaskar Resigns From Tamil Nadu Assembly

On Monday, Karur MLA MR Vijayabhaskar resigned from the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, submitting his resignation letter to Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar at the Secretariat in Chennai. Vijayabhaskar is the sixth legislator from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to resign from the House since the formation of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government. Speculations are currently rife that the former minister will join the ruling TVK in the near future.

The former transport minister made his decision official by hand-delivering his resignation letter to Speaker JCD Prabhakar. If the Speaker accepts Vijayabhaskar's resignation, the move will further increase the number of vacant constituencies in the state. Currently, the total number of vacant seats in the 234-member state Assembly is set to rise to seven. This list of vacancies also includes the Tiruchirappalli East constituency, which was previously vacated by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.

Vijayabhaskar's exit follows a series of similar resignations within the AIADMK party. Before his decision to step down on Monday, five other AIADMK MLAs had already resigned from the state Assembly. These five legislators are K Maragatham Kumaravel representing Madurantakam, S Jayakumar representing Perundurai, P Sathyabama representing Dharapuram, Esakki Subbiah representing Ambasamudram, and C Vijayabaskar representing Viralimalai. Among these five former legislators, four have already gone on to join the ruling TVK.

MR Vijayabhaskar has a notable political career in Tamil Nadu. He previously served as the state's transport minister under the cabinet of J Jayalalithaa. During the 2021 assembly elections, Vijayabhaskar contested from the Karur constituency but lost the seat to V Senthil Balaji of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Despite that defeat, he contested again and was successfully re-elected to the state Assembly from the Karur constituency in 2026.