Chennai, June 29: Former Tamil Nadu Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar resigned as an AIADMK MLA on Monday, becoming the sixth legislator to leave the party since the 2026 Assembly elections.
Vijayabhaskar, who represents the Karur Assembly constituency, submitted his resignation to Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar at the State Secretariat in Chennai.
His resignation adds to the growing political challenges for AIADMK, which became the third-largest party in the Assembly after the recent state elections.
Earlier, four AIADMK MLAs resigned from the Assembly and later joined the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). Another former AIADMK MLA, C. Vijayabaskar, resigned earlier this month and is expected to join the ruling party.
M.R. Vijayabhaskar served as the Transport Minister in the late J. Jayalalithaa’s government. Although he lost the 2021 Assembly election to DMK leader V. Senthil Balaji, he returned to the Assembly after winning the Karur seat in the 2026 elections.
With his resignation, the number of vacant Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu has increased to seven. One of those seats is Tiruchirappalli East, which became vacant after Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay resigned from the constituency following the Assembly elections.
The latest resignation is expected to further weaken the AIADMK’s strength in the Assembly and could have a significant impact on the state’s political landscape in the coming months.