Tamil Nadu Timeline

PoliticsMadras State (Congress era)

E. V. K. Sampath leaves the DMK and forms the Tamil National Party

· Chennai

E. V. K. Sampath split from the DMK and founded the Tamil National Party with the poet Kannadasan.

E. V. K. Sampath, a founding leader of the DMK and nephew of Periyar, left the party in 1961. With the poet Kannadasan and Pazha Nedumaran he founded the Tamil National Party. The split is attributed to personal differences within the DMK leadership and to disagreement over the demand for a separate Dravida Nadu. It was the first major split in the DMK.

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