ADMK Rajya Sabha MP Navaneethakrishnan is back in the spotlight after a hiatus as the current leadership of the party had expelled him from the party post. Amid the intra-party debate that was sparked by his expulsion, our sources have revealed the behind-the-screen story of why the leaders had arrived at the decision of removing Navaneethakrishnan from the post of the Secretary of ADMK's advocate wing.

Navaneethakrishnan is a lawyer by profession and he had served as the Advocate General of the Tamil Nadu government during Jayalalithaa's regime and he was then elevated to represent the state at the Upper House of the Parliament. As a senior ADMK MP in the Rajya Sabha, he had built contacts with the parliamentarians of the other parties including ADMK's rival DMK. His conduct of proximity to the DMK MPs had eventually removed him from the party's post. 

On Friday, the ADMK leaders Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palansiwami had issued a joint statement in which they had announced that Navaneethakrishnan was expelled from the post of the secretary of ADMK's advocate wing. According to our sources, senior ADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu Minister CV Shanmugam had played a vital part in getting the leadership signed in Navaneethakrishnan's expulsion order. 

Recently, the ADMK leaders had held a discussion about the upcoming urban local body polls in Tamil Nadu. The meeting was attended by the senior leaders, MLAs, and the party's district secretaries. During the meeting, former minister CV Shanmugam began to speak and said that Navaneethakrishnan had violated the party's norms and principles. He said, "It's sad that the senior leaders themselves violate the party's regulations. The recent example was Navaneethakrishnan." 

Recently, DMK MP TR Baalu had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi regarding the DMK-ruling Tamil Nadu government's bill to repeal the NEET in the state. TR Baalu was accompanied by the Tamil Nadu MPs including Navaneethakrishnan, which had shocked the ADMK party. During the party meeting, CV Shanmugam had stressed that Navaneethakrishnan could have avoided meeting Amit Shah with the DMK MPs as it has shown that ADMK is standing with the DMK government. 

By asking whether this could have happened under Jayalalithaa, CV Shanmugam further said that Navaneethakrishnan has attended the marriage function of DMK MP TKS Elangovan's family and the ADMK MP went on to praise DMK MP Kanimozhi. Navaneethakrishnan had apparently said that he had learnt a lot from DMK MPs Kanimozhi and TKS Elangovan. He went on to say that Kanimozhi has good intentions and she wants to do good for the people of Tamil Nadu. 

Sharing these events, Shanmugam has said that DMK is a feudal party for the ADMK and any association with the DMK by an ADMK member would be an anti-party activity and violation of the party's principles. Shanmugam further said that if the current leadership fails to take action against Navaneethakrishnan, the party's rules and regulations would be compromised, which is not good for ADMK.

Our sources say when Shanmugam had urged the leadership to take action against Naveneethakrishnan, several leaders had backed him and kept the same demand. As dissents against Navaneethakrishnan had grown in the party, the leadership unit has been pushed to announce the expulsion of the Rajya Sabha MP from his party post.