AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam’s brother O. Raja, who was expelled from the party on Saturday, said the AIADMK would no longer succeed under the dual leadership of O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami. The two leaders would bury the party, he claimed.
Speaking to reporters in Theni, Mr Raja justified meeting the former party interim general secretary V. K. Sasikala, who was with the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for over three decades. “When cadres were ready to take her [Sasikala] as the leader, what was the need for the so called self-appointed VVIPs to reject her,” he questioned.
He claimed Ms Sasikala and her nephew T. T. V. Dhinakaran were in the party all these years and had guided the organisation in the past. Removing them from the party had only weakened it, he felt. and added delay in taking them back into the party fold may further cause fractures within the organisation.
When the Theni district unit of the AIADMK had resolved to admit into the fold all the leaders, including Ms Sasikala and Mr Dhinakaran, two days ago, what was the necessity for the other leaders to put them on hold, Mr Raja asked and challenged his expulsion.
According to him, Ms Sasikala would make a comeback and people like Mr Palaniswami would be shown the door.
