Stung by the defeat in the RK Nagar bypoll, the ruling AIADMK on Monday cracked the whip against nine party functionaries, sacking four supporters of rebel leader TTV Dhinakaran from their posts and ousting five others from the party.
District unit secretaries P Vetrivel, NG Parthiban, M Rengasamy and Thangatamilselvan — all considered close to Dhinakaran — were being “relieved” from their posts, said Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, who is also AIADMK co-coordinator, and Deputy CM and party coordinator O Panneerselvam.
The party leaders did not give any reasons for the dismissals.
Five other functionaries were being removed from the party, they said in a joint statement.
Among them were VP Kalairajan and V Muthiah, district secretaries of South Chennai (North) and Tirunelveli Urban, respectively. Va Pugazhenthi, secretary of AIADMK’s Karnataka unit, and spokespersons Nanchil Sampath and CR Saraswathi had also been removed from the party, they said.
The action comes a day after Dhinakaran won the RK Nagar bypoll by a thumping margin of 40,707 votes against AIADMK’s E Madhusudhanan.