AIADMK leadership row: O Paneerselvam expelled for “anti-party” activities

Chennai: A total of 16 resolutions were passed in the crucial All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIDMK) General Council meeting held on Monday in which Edappadi K Palaniswami was appointed as the party’s interim General Secretary and O Paneerselvam was expelled for “anti-party” activities.

Along with OPS, his supporters – JCD Prabhakar, R Vaithilingam, and PH Manoj Pandian were also expelled from the AIADMK.

The resolutions were passed after the Madras High Court today dismissed a petition by OPS, who sought to stay the holding of a General Council (GC) meeting.

He had contended that only the Coordinator and the Joint Coordinator can convene the GC meeting and that since the newly-appointed Presidium Chairman had done so, the meeting was technically illegal and hence untenable.

The party has said that anyone who wants to contest for the post of General Secretary has to be a member of the party for 10 years. The candidature should be proposed by ten district secretaries and seconded by the same number of district secretaries of the AIADMK.

Ahead of the GC meeting, supporters of EPS and OPS clashed in front of the party headquarters here.

Here are the highlights of the resolutions adopted by the AIADMK during the General Council meeting.

• The party passed a resolution to terminate the posts of coordinator and joint-coordinator, officially doing away with the dual leadership structure in the party. Earlier, OPS and EPS held these two posts, respectively.
• The party passes a resolution naming EPS as interim general secretary
• The post of General Secretary has been revived, for which primary members of the party will vote in fresh elections that will be held within four months. The post which was held by late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was abolished after her death in the year 2016.
• The party passed a resolution creating the post of Deputy General Secretary, who will be selected by the party’s General Secretary. Both the General Secretary and the Deputy Secretary will serve a term of five years.
• Anyone who wants to contest as General Secretary has to be a member of the party for 10 years. The candidature should be proposed by ten district secretaries and seconded by the same number of district secretaries of the party.
• The party adopted a resolution congratulating newly elected members on various internal party posts.
• The party passed a resolution seeking a Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor for E V Ramasamy ‘Periyar’, MG Ramachandran (MGR), and the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa
• The party elected an Interim General secretary in this meeting itself
• The party passed a resolution debating the present situation of AIADMK and future development for the party
• The party condemned Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for terminating AIADMK’s people schemes
• Condemning DMK for not controlling the rising prices of commodities
• Condemning DMK who failed to take care of State law & order
• Requesting Centre and state government to put stop to Mekdatu Dam Project
• Protecting Srilankan Tamil Rights – requesting state and Central government
• Protecting weavers and sorting out their problems
• Condemning DMK for not doing what they said in the election manifesto
• Requesting DMK to solve the issues for teachers and government employees which they promised in the election manifesto.

After the demise of Jayalalithaa in 2016, the party has been following a dual-leadership formula with EPS as co-coordinator and OPS as coordinator.

The clamor has been growing louder for a single leader in the party since the district secretary meeting on June 14 this year.

Meanwhile ahead of today’s court’s ruling supporters of the EPS and OPS factions clashed on the streets of Chennai. Some people were injured in the clash.

(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)