INDIA.CHENNAI: Ahead of the General Council meeting scheduled to take place on Monday, the Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) camp of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) discussed at his residence in Tamil Nadu.
AIADMK Presidium Chairman Tamil Magan Hussain announced on June 23 that they have decided to hold the next General Council Meeting (after the one that took place on June 23) of AIADMK on July 11.
After all the 23 resolutions of the General Committee members were rejected, the supporters of O Panneerselvam who want to have a dual leadership format in the party left the meeting.
“All members rejected all the 23 resolutions and the only demand of General Committee members is on single leadership. When the next General Committee meeting is convened, all these along with the resolutions for single leadership will be adopted,” AIADMK Deputy Coordinator KP Munusamy had said.
He further expressed that whenever the next General Council Meeting would happen, all 23 resolutions and a single leadership resolution will be passed.
Former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, former Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam(OPS) and other leaders of the party were also present at the June 23 meeting.
After the demise of Jayalalithaa in 2016, the party has been following a dual-leadership formula with Palaniswami as co-coordinator and Panneerselvam as coordinator.
Palaniswami is full support of single leadership in the party and his camp was keen on passing a resolution in this regard during the June 23 meeting, while Panneerselvam claimed that the general body could not pass the resolution without his signature as per the party bylaw.
Since the district secretary meeting that took place on June 14, talks for single leadership in the party have been making rounds. Both the camps held several rounds of discussions to resolve the issue but with no result. Panneerselvam had also written a letter to Palaniswami demanding a rescheduling of the general body meeting citing a jumbled equation in the party that the AIADMK co-coordinator denied.
If compared to OPS, EPS enjoys the support of a large number of party MLAs and district secretaries, along with some party people who don’t come out openly.
Amid all this drama, Panneerselvam’s long-time loyalists had also joined the Palaniswami camp. Later, on Tuesday, Thiruvallur District Secretary Alexander and Puducherry State Secretary Anbalagan extended their support to Palaniswami.
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