Chennai, Dec 26 (UNI) The Executive Committee and the General Council meeting of the main Opposition AIADMK–the first after former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami was officially elected as General Secretary of the party– began here on Tuesday.
More than 2,000 EC and General Council members are attending the key meeting of the party being held at a marriage hall at suburban Vaanagaram, the usual venue where such meetings are being held. even during the leadership of former Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa.
This is the first EC and General Council meeting held after the election of Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Edappadi K. Palaniswami as general secretary of the AIADMK in March this year.
On March 28 this year, moments after the Madras High Court dismissed the interim pleas filed by former AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam and a few of his supporters against the resolutions of the July 11, 2022 general council meeting and the consequent general secretary election, Mr Palaniswami–who was elected as General Secretary and results with held due to litigation–was formally declared elected as the party’s general secretary.
The earlier GC meeting held on June 23, 2022, where Mr Palaniswami was elected to the post as interim GS much against the wishes of Mr Panneerselvam, who was booed for opposing the single leadership of Mr Palaniswami, was declared invalid by the court on a plea by Panneerselvam leading to the convening of the July 11, 2022 meeting with court permission where key decisions were taken.
At the AIADMK headquarters, party election commissioners Pollachi V. Jayaraman and Natham R.Viswanathan handed over the letter of appointment to him. Till that date, Mr.Palaniswami had functioned as the interim general secretary.
A month later, the Election Commission also recognised Mr. Palaniswami as the general secretary of the party and approved the changes made in the party bylaws, subject to any court direction.
It may be recalled that the July 11, 2022 meet of the AIADMK general council, the party’s highest decision-making body, had expelled Mr.Panneerselvam and his aides for alleged anti-party activities in the wake of the leadership tussle involving him and Mr Palaniswami.
Mr Palaniswami, the Salem strongman, wielded support from a majority of the Party district secretaries, leaders and functionaries and emerged as the undisputed ‘single leader’ of the party which previously had a dual leadership with Pannnerselvam and Mr. Palaniswami as the coordinator and joint coordinator, respectively.
Only earlier this week, the High Court rejected a plea by former interim general secretary of the party, V.K. Sasikala–who was also subsequently expelled from the party along with her nephew TTV Dhinakaran wo was made Deputy General Secretary by her just before leaving for a Bengaluru prison in February 2017 after her conviction in a DA case– seeking to declare that she remained in the post since her appointment to the post on December 29, 2016.
Today’s meeting is being held ahead of the Lok Sabha polls due in 4-5 months time.
The meeting is expected to discuss the strategy to be adopted for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and was chaired by AIADMK Presidium Chairman Tamilmagan Hussain.
This is also the first top meeting of the party after Mr.Palaniswami, had in September, made a sudden announcement that AIADMK was snapping its four-year-old ties with the BJP, and also quit the National Democratic Alliance.
It is under these circumstances that the general council meeting began to extensively deliberate on the party’s preparations, strategy and prospects for the Lok Sabha election, slated for April-May next year.
Ever since the demise of Ms Jayalalithaa in December 2016, the AIADMK had suffered reversals in three successive elections starting from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 2021 Assembly polls and the elections to Urban and rural Local bodies, besides the Assembly bypolls to the Erode East constituency.
With the AIADMK time and again reiterating that there was no question of reviving its ties with the Saffron party, several resolution, including the key one authorising Mr Palaniswami to decide the party’s strategy for the polls, including forging alliances with like-minded parties or to go it alone, will be adopted.
Resolutions condemning the ruling DMK on its handling of the Cyclone situation in Chennai and neighbouring districts and the recent very heavy extreme rains in four southern districts, that led to several damages to road and other infrastructure, are also likely to be adopted at the meeting.
