V.K. Sasikala and T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who were ‘ousted’ by the AIADMK led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and his deputy O. Panneerselvam, have approached the Madras High Court seeking quashing of resolutions adopted by the party ‘general council’ against them. They also prayed for an order restraining the current office-bearers from operating any bank account of the party.
Hearing the petition, Justice C.V. Karthikeyan ordered notices to Mr. Palaniswami, Mr. Panneerselvam and senior leaders E. Madhusudhanan, S. Semmalai and Dindigul C. Sreenivasan — cited as respondents in the case — and posted the matter to November 29. He also directed the AIADMK office manager to provide details of the bank accounts of the party in the court on November 10.
Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for the petitioners, who sought other relief in their affidavit, including an order holding illegal and void all decisions taken and resolutions passed in the party’s meeting on September 12. The petitioners also sought an interim injunction against any general council meeting to be held by the now-unified factions.
Dhinakaran’s charge
Meanwhile, Mr. Dhinakaran told reporters in Tiruchi on Thursday said Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam were trying to get the ‘two leaves’ symbol through shortcut.
Denying allegations that he was trying to freeze the party’s symbol permanently, Mr. Dhinakaran said that he had approached the Election Commission as per law.
His lawyer had pointed out anomalies in the documents submitted by the EPS and OPS faction. “Some of them were fabricated and contained wrong information. The general council members [of the AIADMK] concerned had to be cross-examined. But, the EPS and OPS faction had been making moves to get the symbol through shortcut,” Mr. Dhinakaran said.
Mr. Panneerselvam was primarily responsible for the freezing of the symbol by the Election Commission. After resigning as the Chief Minister, he only took up the issue with the Election Commission out of frustration, Mr. Dhinakaran said.
He accused the State government of failing to take precautionary measures to prevent flooding during the monsoon. The Ministers had no concern for the sufferings of the people. Keeping the government afloat was their only objective, he charged.
