In the first major political friction in DMK since coming to power in the state last year, the party is likely to witness the quitting of a top leader, who is close to high command. The development has shocked the party's leadership and efforts are being taken to mitigate the dispute. 

According to reports, DMK's Deputy General Secretary Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan is believed to have decided to part ways with the party. She is the highest-ranking woman leader in the party and has had a close association with the Dravidian movement for several decades. As a part of the leadership unit, Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan has been a prominent political functionary in Tamil Nadu. 

However, the sources say that she has come to the decision of quitting the party. It has been reported that she is disappointed over not being given prominence in the party. A native of the Erode district, Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan had contested the 2021 assembly polls in the Modakkurichi Assembly Constituency and her top contender in the poll was BJP's C Saraswathi.

In election results, Subbulakshmi had lost the race to Saraswathi and it was reported that being DMK's Deputy General Secretary, Subbulakshmi had complained to the party's leadership that some district functionaries of the DMK destroyed her chances of victory in the polls. She was reportedly disappointed with the leadership for not taking any action against her complaint. 

Later, when the state went for Rajya Sabha polls, Subbulakshmi expected that she would win a ticket from the party to contest in the polls after losing the assembly election. However, her expectation went in vain as she was denied a ticket by the party leadership which fueled her friction and disappointment that she was getting sidelined by the party.  

Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan reduced her participation in the party's events and in an apparent display of disappointment, she had her husband had boycotted the party's 'Mupperum Vizha' that was held in Virudhunagar on September 15. Moreover, it was reported that she had resigned from the party post ahead of quitting the party. Though her resignation wasn't official, the party denied it. 

According to The Hindu, a senior DMK leader said that the party headquarters didn't receive any such letter from Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan. In recent times, her husband Jagadeesan turned out to be a staunch critic of DMK and he recently slammed the government for increasing the electricity tariff. It is pertinent to note that Subbulakshmi had served as the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004 to 2009 and also the Tamil Nadu Minister of Textile from 1977 to 1980 and Minister of Social Welfare from 1989 to 1991.