The AIADMK is bracing for a storm as discontent brews in the party ahead of the intra-party election for the posts of coordinator and joint coordinator.
The 50-year old party, founded by MGR and led by former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, appears to be in trouble even as former chief ministers O. Panneerselvam (OPS) and Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) joined hands to hold on to the top positions in the party.
K.C. Palanisamy, a former member of Parliament, on Friday approached the Madras High Court, challenging the decision to conduct the election for the posts of coordinator and joint coordinator, who together will have the powers of the general secretary. In his petition, Palanisamy claimed that the election is against the bylaws of the party.
He said the election is “unenforceable, non-est in the eye of law.”
Seeking to quash the election, scheduled to be held on Tuesday, Palanisamy asked the court to intervene. He demanded that the election be conducted under the supervision of a retired judge as an independent election commissioner.
The court, however, refused to pass an interim order to stay the poll, and adjourned the matter to January 7 for filing of counter affidavits by the AIADMK, its coordinator and joint coordinator and election officers.
While hearing the petition, Justice Abdul Quddhose asked how Palanisamy, who was removed from the primary membership of the party, can file a case to declare as illegal a notification issued by the AIADMK for organisational election. The court also asked how it can intervene in the matter in the last minute.
Meanwhile, one of the primary members of the party, Omapaodi Prasad Singh from Otteri in Chennai, was manhandled inside the party headquarters in Royapettah when he went to ask for a nomination form to contest the election. Prasad was allegedly beaten up by a former minister and his supporters. He filed a complaint with the police saying he was attacked by the AIADMK office manager Mahalingam Manoharan at the behest of EPS, OPS and Ponnaiyan.
Sources close to expelled general secretary V.K. Sasikala said her statement asking the cadres to stay calm and that “status will change for the good soon” has created a silent storm. Besides, a few office bearers are upset with OPS and EPS announcing intra-party election without convening the general council meeting.
In a statement on Thursday, Sasikala had said, “Let us change our party which now serves the interests, likes and dislikes of certain individuals, into a movement of cadres and take it along the path laid down by the party leaders. Let us destroy the areas of our political opponents.” She also asked the cadres who have been sidelined or who voluntarily stayed out of party affairs not to lose hope.
The AIADMK, which is said to have 1.5 crore members at the time of Jayalalithaa’s death, usually has its organisational elections from the grassroots level to the top. This is for the first time the party will have the election for top to bottom.
OPS and EPS have also began facing opposition from their colleagues. There has been an increased demand to grant powers to the 11-member steering committee, which was set up in 2020. Former minister K.A. Sengottaiyan, a senior leader from west Tamil Nadu, during a recent meeting, raised the issue and also expressed displeasure over not being chosen for even the post of the interim presidium chairman. The party got its interim presidium chairman Thamil Magan Hussain only on Monday, three months after the death of erstwhile presidium chairman E. Madhusudhanan.
Besides, the AIADMK is yet to release the list of primary members who will cast their vote and how the elections can be done from all 65 party districts, for the top posts, on a single day.
