The AIADMK’s deposed coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, on Saturday accused the party’s interim general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami of conducting himself in a “dictatorial” manner, for having released the schedule of elections for the post of the party’s general secretary.
Addressing a press conference at his residence here, Mr. Panneerselvam said he and his colleagues would go around the State and explain to party members and the people about Mr. Palaniswami’s functioning. “He has thrown the party’s bylaws to the wind and arrogated himself [virtually] to the post of general secretary,” Mr. Panneerselvam observed, adding that by, inserting certain qualifications as required for the the post of general secretary, Mr. Palaniswami had created a situation wherein “no ordinary worker can contest for the post and only the big and mighty can aspire to it.”
Faction to meet in Tiruchi in April
The former coordinator, who asserted that the verdict of the Erode (East) Assembly bypoll went against the leadership of Mr. Palaniswami, said his group would hold a conference in Tiruchi during the second week of April.
“The meet would be as historic as that of the DMK in 1956 and we would highlight the ideals and policies of Puratchi Thalaivar [the party founder M.G. Ramachandran] and Puratchi Thalaivi [former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa] who stood for uplifting the plight of the common man,” said Panruti S. Ramachandran, political advisor to the group.
Mr. Ramachandran recalled that the DMK’s founder C.N. Annadurai, in 1956, decided in favour of his party contesting in the general elections after an internal poll held among members of the organisation.
Jayakumar criticises Panneerselvam
Earlier, the AIADMK’s organisation secretary and former Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar blamed Mr. Panneerselvam for having betrayed his “mentors” T.T.V. Dhinakaran and V.K. Sasikala and “not being consistent” in his position. He added that there would not be any impact of the former coordinator’s actions on the AIADMK’s workers. He maintained that there was no hurry in the way the election was being held for the post of general secretary.
