In 1989, Vyjayanthimala again had to face the 1989 Tamil Nadu general election, this time she was opposed by Aladi Aruna of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. She again beat her opposition by nearly 12584  votes. Later in 1993, she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India for a six-year term. In 1999, she resigned from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress party. In her letter to the party's president Sonia Gandhi, she included the reason for her resignation where she said that: "painfully watching the party drifting from its avowed principles after the death of Rajiv Gandhi, the party has lost touch with its grassroots and one can see day in and day out that sincere party workers are being steadily ignored." she adds more; "increasingly difficult to justify ourselves to the public and my conscience does not allow me to stay in the party any longer". Later, she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 6 September 1999.