Mudaliar did not participate in the first general elections in Madras Presidency held in 1920. However, in the 1923 assembly elections, he was elected to the Madras Legislative Council. He had differences with ministers in the Raja of Panagal ministry and often criticized the government. When P. Subbarayan took over as Chief Minister, Mudaliar praised Subbarayan and the Swarajya Arty and appealed for the merger of the Justice Party with the Indian National Congress. At the Non-Brahmin confederation in Coimbatore in 1927, he led the split of the Justice Party into two camps: Ministerialists and Constitutionalists and functioned as the leader of the Constitutionalists until the two groups merged. In 1929, Mudaliar presided over the Justice Party conference in which a resolution was passed facilitating the admission of Brahmins in the party.
