The ruling faction of the AIADMK made a decisive move on Tuesday against the opposing group by ousting the party’s interim general secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew and deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran at a general council meeting here.
The general council, led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, asserted its hold over the party by resolving that the post of interim general secretary — created in the days following the death of former general secretary and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa — will be annulled.
In another resolution, the general council decided that nominations to the party post made by Sasikala will also be cancelled. Effectively, her appointment of Dhinakaran stands annulled, as does his subsequent appointment of party office bearers.
The general council, which met at a wedding hall in a western suburb of Chennai, decided that Jayalalithaa will “always” be the party general secretary and that the AIADMK will from henceforh be run by a team of coordinators.
The party passed 12 resolutions including appointing Paneerselvam as the party’s chief coordinator and Palaniswami as deputy coordinator in an 11-member team which will include KP Munusamy, a former minister, and R Vaithilingam, Rajya Sabha MP, as deputy coordinators.
Palaniswami tweeted that 2,130 general council members, constituting 98 per cent of the council, attended today’s meeting and approved all the resolutions. However, 18 MLAs supporting Dhinakaran stayed away.
The council also resolved to allow office-bearers appointed by Jayalalithaa to continue to hold the posts.
Today’s decisions are, however, subject to the approval of the Madras High Court. On Monday night, hearing a petition filed by MLA Vetrivel, a Dhinakaran loyalist, the court allowed the general council meeting to be held but said the decisions taken there are subject to its approval.
“No one can split AIADMK or destabilise the Amma Govt that is continuing,” Palaniswami in a series of tweets. “Only a few political parties have the privilege of coming together after facing a split. How can Dhinakaran, who is not even a primary member, remove party office bearers? He has no locus standi to criticise us. Amma had kept him away from party affairs for 10 years.”
Floor test challengeIn a related development, DMK working president MK Stalin filed a petition in the Madras High Court to direct the Tamil Nadu Governor to immediately ask Palaniswami to prove his majority in the Assembly through a floor test.
This came after 19 MLAs of the ruling party recently gave letters to the Governor, saying they don’t have confidence in Palaniswami.
According to PTI, Stalin charged that the Governor, “by abdicating his constitutional duties”, is “clearly working in tandem with the political party in power and deliberately delaying ordering the trust vote”.