The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Thursday sacked 44 more functionaries, all regarded as supporters of rebel leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran, from the party. This was announced through press releases issued by the party coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and the party co-coordinator and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
On Monday, the party expelled five functionaries and relieved four district secretaries from their positions.
R. Samy, who represented the Melur Assembly constituency between 2001 and 2016, was among those expelled from the party on Thursday.
Mr. Samy, a member of the general council at the time of expulsion, was the chief organiser of a rally held by Mr. Dhinakaran in mid-August, a few days after the party leadership distanced itself from the rebel leader.
In May, the former legislator also organised a demonstration in his area to protest against the arrest of Mr. Dhinakaran and lashed out at the Central government and Mr. Panneerselvam for alleged attempts to weaken the party.
Along with Mr. Samy, 34 other functionaries from the Madurai (Suburban) district unit were also expelled.
The remaining nine are from other districts such as Villupuram, Dharmapuri, the Nilgiris, Tiruchi, Perambalur, Thanjavur and Theni.
Aranthangi MLA
The party also announced that E.A. Rathinasabapathy, Aranthangi MLA and supporter of Mr. Dhinakaran, had been relieved of his post as chairman of the Pudukkottai district unit. R. Balasubramani, secretary of the Vellore (West) unit of the Amma Peravai in the party, has also been sacked from his position.
