Party accuses them of shaming it by mixing with the DMK
Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K Palaniswami (68) was unanimously elected as the interim general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in a specially-convened General Council (GC) meeting held on Monday at Chennai.
He will be elevated as the full time general secretary of the party in the election to be held in four months, it was announced in Monday’s GC meeting, which is the highest decision-making body of the party.
The GC meeting expelled O Panneerselvam, who was the coordinator of the party steering committee, from the primary membership of the party along with three of his associates for bringing disrepute to the AIADMK by hobnobbing with the DMK. The GC meeting saw a lot of suspense and action-packed moments. The proceedings began only after Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy of the Madras High Court quashed the petition filed by Panneerselvam challenging the legality of the meeting. “Majority of the AIADMK members are in favour of conducting the meeting and there are no illegalities in today’s meeting. Moreover, the court cannot interfere with the squabbles of a political party,” said Justice Ramaswamy.
While the GC meeting began amid much fanfare at a Chennai suburb, Panneerselvam and his associates drove down to the AIADMK headquarters in the heart of the city. Television channels aired visuals of people vandalising the party headquarters by pulling down the pictures of Jayalalithaa and Palaniswami. The main door to the party office was broken open, and it was a free for all for party cadres believed to be loyalists of Panneerselvam.
The Revenue Department of the Tamil Nadu Government took control of the party building and locked it.
Meanwhile the GC meeting passed resolutions elevating Palaniswami as interim general secretary, expelling Panneerselvam and four associates and appointing Natham Viswanathan and Pollachi Jayaraman as election commissioners to hold party general secretary poll.
All regional satraps and former Ministers in the Palaniswami-led Government were present in the GC meeting leaving Panneerselvam alone. Later in the day, V K Sasikala, who roams around Tamil Nadu claiming to be the general secretary of the AIADMK, told media persons that Monday’s meeting was illegal and against the party’s ideology.
“But who bothers about what Sasikala is telling? The whole Tamil Nadu is agog with reports that Sasikala and Panneerselvam are hand in glove with Chief Minister M K Stalin to ensure the disintegration of AIADMK,” said Kolahala Srenivaas, author and commentator.
He pointed out that Panneerselvam and company gatecrashed into party headquarters and vandalised the premises despite the administration’s call for Section 144. “This was done with the connivance of police and revenue officials,” he said.
With their expulsion from the membership of the party, Panneerselvam and R Vaithilingam cease to be members of the Legislative Assembly necessitating by-elections in the constituencies they represent.