Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) was on Tuesday elevated as the AIADMK’s General Secretary, taking over complete control of the decades-old organisation minutes after a High Court green signal on the leadership issue involving his rival O Panneerselvam (OPS).
In his first announcement as the top leader of the party, he said forms for new party membership and renewal of existing ones will be distributed at the AIADMK headquarters here from April 4 onwards for a fee of Rs 10.
Soon after the Madras High Court rejected all petitions filed by the deposed OPS and his aides, including MLA P H Manoj Pandian and R Vaithilingam against the resolutions of the July 11, 2022 party general council and the conduct of the general secretary election, the 68-year-old interim general secretary was announced elected unanimously to the top post at the party headquarters by the election authorities concerned.
The former chief minister thanked his supporters for his elevation. Many jubilant leaders of the main opposition party said his elevation would enable him steer the AIADMK towards better days.
The July 11, 2022 meeting of the AIADMK general council, the party’s highest decision making body had expelled Panneerselvam and his aides for alleged anti-party activities in the wake of the leadership battle involving the two leaders.
The Salem strongman’s supporters had backed him for the ‘single leader’ post, even as the party was previously led by Pannnerselvam and Palaniswami as the coordinator and joint coordinator, respectively, then. The posts were created in 2017 after the then rival leaders merged their respective factions.
AIADMK was founded in 1972 by the charismatic actor-politician, the late chief minister M G Ramachandran (MGR), also the first general secretary of the party. The late CM J Jayalalithaa helmed the party from its top post from 1989 to 2016 till her death.
Jayalalithaa’s close aide V K Sasikala was elected as the party’s interim general secretary after the former’s death but she was later convicted and sentenced to four years in jail in a graft case.
Incidentally, since its inception, the party has had MGR, VR Nedunchizhian, P U Shanmugam, S Ragavanandam and Jayalalithaa as general secretaries at different points of time.
Later in the day, EPS paid floral tributes at the memorials of MGR and Jayalalithaa at the Marina beachfront here.
