B. Senthil Murugan, who was initially fielded by the ousted AIADMK leader, O. Panneerselvam, as the candidate of his camp in the recent Erode (East) Assembly byelection and subsequently withdrawn, on Thursday joined the AIADMK in the presence of its interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami in Chennai.
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Soon after he switched camps, Mr. Panneerselvam announced that Mr. Murugan was removed from the primary membership of the outfit, which he heads.
Mr. Palaniswami also chaired a meeting of party's district secretaries at the AIADMK headquarters during which discussions took place on the organisational activities and strategies to campaign against the DMK government.
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Meanwhile, in a statement, Mr. Palaniswami alleged the DMK government was not able to provide three-phase electricity supply to farmers round-the-clock and instead it was being provided only on rotation. This was not acceptable, he said.
"It is a mystery that remains unresolved as to why whenever the DMK comes to power, there is a shortage in power supply," Mr. Palaniswami said and suspected whether the shortage in supply was "artificially created."
Pointing out that farmers were being affected by the shortage, Mr. Palaniswami urged the government to take steps to ensure sufficient electricity is produced to supply three-phase electricity to farmers round-the-clock.