The AIADMK will hold thanksgiving meetings in Nanguneri and Vikravandi on November 5 and 8, respectively, following its victory in the byelections to the two Assembly constituencies.
Party coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, who is planning an official visit to the United States from November 7 to 17, will address the meeting in Nanguneri, while party co-coordinator and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami will take part in the Vikravandi event, according to a press release issued by the ruling party.
Mr. Panneerselvam, accompanied by Principal Secretary (Finance) S. Krishnan, is likely to visit Chicago, Houston, New York and Washington, D.C. to participate in discussions on infrastructure finance and meetings with the World Bank, apart from functions organised by the Tamil diaspora, where the Deputy CM may be felicitated.
Meanwhile, intra-party deliberations are under way about the preparation of the lists of candidates for the proposed polls to local bodies. In a discreet way, the party is undertaking a scrutiny of the credentials of the candidates who were chosen in 2016 for the local body polls. Back then, the poll schedule got cancelled in the wake of litigation in the Madras High Court.
Fresh look at list
There are two reasons to take a fresh look at the old list. A section of the party members had gone to the camp of rebel leader and AMMK founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran. The ongoing scrutiny is meant to ascertain how many of the candidates are with the party now, even though most of them are said to be in the AIADMK, a senior leader said.
Unlike in 2016, when the ruling party had planned to contest the local body polls on its own, it now has to accommodate allies like the BJP, the PMK, the DMDK and the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), said another leader, hinting that this time, the task of finalising the party’s candidates for the local body polls was going to be challenging.
In case the local body elections take place in December, the party’s general council, which has not met since September 2017, may be convened immediately thereafter, the leaders felt.
