AIADMK general council meeting begins: Sasikala, Dhinakaran may lose posts

Today's meeting comes after legal battles fought in in Chennai, Madras courts; 14 resolutions are expected to be passed

Amid political confusions in Tamil Nadu, ruling party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (AIADMK's) crucial general council meeting started in Chennai on Tuesday morning.

The meeting is expected to invalidate decisions taken in "contravention" of party by-laws and a resolution is expected to be passed to declare all those decisions as "null and void". This means that the appointment of jailed General Secretary V K Sasikala void ab initio and also her subsequent decisions in party matters, including the appointment of her nephew T T V Dhinakaran as the party's deputy general secretary.

 

Dhinakaran had earlier threatened to bring down the government as he claims that over 20 MLAs are with him and are against Chief Minister (CM) Edapaddi Palanisamy, who joined hands with former CM O Panneerselvam, a close aide of late J Jayalalithaa.

Panneerselvam walked away from ruling faction after he was allegedly forced to resign.

Today's meeting comes after the legal battles that have been fought in different courts in Chennai and in the neighbouring states on Monday.

On Monday, Dhinakaran faction, led by P Vetrivel, petitioned the Madras High Court to stop the general council meeting contending that the meeting convened by the ruling faction was “illegal” since only the party general secretary has the power to call such a meeting.

Hearing the case, a single judge not only dismissed the petition but also imposed a fine of Rs 100,000.

Later on Monday, the day a local court in Bengaluru stayed the holding of the general council meeting in a petition filed by Pugazhendhi, another loyalist of Dinakaran.

The decision to call a meeting was taken on August 28 at an AIADMK meeting. It was also decided to retrieve the party's mouthpiece Namadhu MGR and television channel Jaya TV.

The decisions, which will be taken at the general council meeting, are subject to its final decision. Sources said that 14 resolutions are expected to be passed.