In Tamil Nadu politics, parties are usually born from movements, slogans or splits. Occasionally, they can also be the result of strategic planning by business conglomerates.
A new entrant may soon join the state’s crowded pre-election field. Leema Rose Martin, the wife of lottery king Santiago Martin and until this week the joint general secretary of NDA ally Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK), has resigned from the party after 14 years, telling The Indian Express that she would announce her next move “within a week or two”.
People close to her say the move is unlikely to be a political retirement. Instead, she is expected to launch the Tamil Nadu unit of the Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi (LJK), a fledgling party floated last month in Puducherry by her son, Jose Charles Martin. The move would effectively extend the family’s political footprint across state lines — and party symbols.
For now, the family tree already resembles a coalition chart. Her son runs LJK in Puducherry. Her son-in-law, Aadhav Arjuna, plays a key organisational role in Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the party founded by actor Vijay, and until this week, she herself held a senior post in IJK, led by Paarivendhar of the SRM Group, whose campuses, students, construction sites and other diverse business ventures seem to outnumber the party’s cadres and offices.
Sources say Leema is not expected to join TVK despite her son-in-law’s position there. Instead, she appears to be charting an independent route, but one that still passes through an alliance.
When asked, Leema said the decision followed months of frustration within IJK. In a political milieu where the placement of chairs can signal power and the absence of one sometimes says more than a speech, the denial of a seat for her on stage at a recent IJK party conference in Cuddalore was a slight that could be interpreted as both literal and symbolic. “It has been eight months of such experiences,” she said.
Alliance talks
A top AIADMK leader said discussions are underway for her to join the Opposition alliance in the state. “That means a new party in Tamil Nadu,” the leader said. The IJK has already been assured a seat within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) through negotiations with the BJP. Leema’s likely plan to launch LJK in Tamil Nadu, however, is expected to seek accommodation in NDA through AIADMK’s quota.
If talks succeed, she would likely contest on the AIADMK’s familiar “Two Leaves” symbol.
Her preferred constituency is Coimbatore, where she lives. According to sources involved in the discussions, she has indicated she would “take care of” campaign needs in several neighbouring constituencies as well — roughly five seats’ worth of organisational and logistical support — should she be allotted one.
Alternatively, if fielded from Thiruvadanai in Ramanathapuram district, her native district, she has conveyed that she would help mobilise resources for three adjoining constituencies. In Thiruvadani, she has been actively engaged in philanthropic work, including the founding of the Leema Martin Health Centre as part of the Martin Foundation.
Business and politics
In Tamil Nadu, neither IJK nor LJK has significant electoral weight on their own. Their vote shares in past contests have been marginal. Yet their importance lies elsewhere.
Both are associated with business conglomerates rather than mass movements. IJK emerged from the educational empire built by Paarivendhar. LJK is tied to the Martin family’s business interests. Martin himself has long been known in political and business circles as a lottery operator with a controversial public profile and a history of high-value political donations, including through electoral bonds.
Tamil Nadu has seen businessmen enter politics before. But the scale has grown more visible — families placing different members across different parties, spreading risk like a diversified portfolio. “One relative here, one symbol there,” said a former AIADMK minister, adding, “It is a strategy that would not look out of place in corporate planning.”
The Martin Group, led by Santiago Martin and anchored by Future Gaming & Hotel Services, is a major force in India’s private lottery sector, with annual lottery turnover reported at around Rs 15,000 crore in recent years, according to Enforcement Directorate filings. Its lottery arm was also India’s top buyer of electoral bonds, donating about Rs 1,368 crore between 2019 and 2024, underscoring its deep political financing footprint.
The SRM Group, spearheaded by Paarivendhar, is built around the SRM Institute of Science and Technology, which reported revenues of roughly Rs 2,676 crore in fiscal 2024, with a student body exceeding 50,000 and multiple campuses across Tamil Nadu and beyond.
With Leema’s exit from IJK, one of Paarivendhar’s daughters-in-law is likely to replace her and contest from a constituency in the Trichy region on an NDA ticket, said a source in the SRM Group. If this materialises, Tamil Nadu will get yet another political entrant from the business world.
