The general council meeting of the AIADMK, in which Edappadi K. Palaniswami was elected interim general secretary, was invalid, claimed V.K. Sasikala, who held the post for a few months after the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in December 2016.
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When a case she had filed challenging her sidelining in the party was pending in the Madras High Court, such a meeting should not have taken place. It was wrong, she said, addressing mediapersons here.
Those who followed in the footsteps of AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa would not indulge in such acts. The general council meeting was convened for “personal and selfish” reasons, she said.
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Ms. Sasikala wondered how the expulsion of former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam from the party would be valid when the appointment of Mr. Palaniswami as interim general secretary was, according to her, questionable.
M.G. Ramachandran had established a system wherein the general secretary was elected directly by the cadre. However, they (the Palaniswami camp) had not acted in that manner, she said. [She too was appointed by the general council.]
When asked how she viewed the sealing of the party office by the Revenue authorities, Ms. Sasikala said the party cadre did not like it, and the people of the State, who had been voting for the AIADMK all these years, would not be pleased either.
When asked whether she would be ready to join hands with Mr. Panneerselvam, she said it was something that could be decided only at the appropriate time. Ms. Sasikala claimed she enjoyed the support of party cadre and the people. She said she could sense this during her tours of the State. She would strive to unite the party, which would emerge victorious in the future, she added.