A meeting of senior leaders and office-bearers of the ruling AIADMK on Wednesday saw both Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam calling on party members to gear up for the forthcoming polls to local bodies.
Mr. Palaniswami was said to have advised the participants of the meeting to highlight the government’s “plethora of welfare measures” during their campaign and identify the “right women candidates” in view of the 50% quota.
According to a few leaders who took part in the meeting, Mr. Panneerselvam had said that if the party were to inflict a “severe blow” on the Opposition, just like it did in the recent Nanguneri and Vikravandi Assembly byelections, DMK president M.K. Stalin would become a “political orphan”.
More than anything else, the message from the leaders was that the government was “keen and firm” on holding the polls, a former Minister said. Echoing the view, Minister D. Jayakumar told reporters that there was no need for the government to defer the polls. “The cadre are eagerly waiting for the announcement of the poll schedule,” he said. He was responding to a query whether any suggestion to get the polls postponed was made at the meeting. But another leader said deputy coordinator R. Vaithilingam had expressed that view, but had hastened to clarify that it was his personal opinion.
The meeting was attended by Ministers, MPs, MLAs, spokespersons and functionaries of various cells of the party. The discussion was centred on the party’s preparedness for the local body polls, sources said. Office-bearers will be identified shortly for the task of visiting the districts to collect application forms for contesting the civic polls, they added.
The party announced that former Minister S. Damodaran and former legislator R. Rajendran had been made organising secretaries. Another former Minister, P.V. Damodaran, was appointed the joint secretary of the MGR Mandram, and former MP R. Gopalakrishnan, the joint secretary of the election committee. The AIADMK decided that instead of two district units for Cuddalore at present – East and West, there will be three units – East, Central and West. Chidambaram MLA K.A. Pandian was made secretary of Cuddalore (East), Industries Minister M.C. Sampath, the secretary of Cuddalore (Central), and former MP A. Arunmozhithevan, the secretary of Cuddalore (West).
