: One of the recently appointed organising secretaries of the AIADMK and former MLA V. Karuppasamy Pandian, who re-entered the outfit only seven months ago, resigned from his post on Wednesday protesting against the appointment of T.T.V. Dinakaran as party’s deputy general secretary.
“I cannot digest the appointment of a person who was removed from the party by Jayalalithaa in 2011 after being branded a ‘traitor’, as the deputy general secretary. Hence, I, in protest, resign my party position,” Mr. Karuppasamy Pandian told reporters in a hastily arranged press conference on Wednesday.
He charged that V.K. Sasikala, who was elected as party’s general secretary in a questionable manner, had readmitted her nephew Dinakaran into the party and was clearly attempting to convert the party into her ‘family property’.
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“After discussing with the party workers, I’ll reveal my next step,” he said while lauding the manner in which Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam is administering the government.
‘No need to replace OPS’
“He (Mr. Panneerselvam), who was handpicked by Jayalalithaa for the job, is performing exceedingly well, and hence, there is no need to replace him,” he noted.
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After starting his political journey as the staunch loyalist of AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, Mr. Karuppasamy Pandian was given various positions in the AIADMK by MGR, and later by party general secretary Jayalalithaa.
However, he was expelled by Jayalalithaa from the party in 2000 and embraced AIADMK’s arch rival the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in May 2000. He was also given various positions in the DMK and elected to the Assembly from the Tenkasi segment.
After getting suspended from the DMK in May 2015 for “violating party discipline and bringing disrepute to the party”, Mr. KaruppasamyPandian remained silent for a while and expressed his willingness to return to the AIADMK.
Even after he vociferously proclaimed that he would work for the resounding victory of the AIADMK in the May 2015 Assembly polls, Jayalalithaa was in no mood to accommodate him. Finally, he was readmitted into the party on July 26, 2016 by Jayalalithaa.