AIADMK interim general secretary K Palaniswami on Thursday, July 14, expelled O Panneerselvam's sons, and 16 other supporters of the ousted leader, from the party. Raveendranath, the party's Lok Sabha member from Theni constituency and Jeyapradeep, both sons of Panneerselvam and a former Minister, Vellamandi N Natarajan were expelled.
Former legislators and MPs were among 15 others who were expelled from the party's primary membership. In a party release, Palaniswami said the move is a disciplinary action and all 18 of them have acted against party interests, principles and brought disrepute to the organisation.
On Wednesday, Palaniswami had announced the appointment of two senior leaders as deputy general secretaries of the party. Announcing the appointments of various functionaries for the first time after being elected as AIADMK's interim general secretary, he urged the party workers to extend their cooperation to the new functionaries.
In a party statement, he announced the appointment of senior leaders and former ministers K P Munusamy and Natham R Viswanathan as deputy general secretaries.
Further, senior leader C Ponnaiyan will head a forum named after party founder, the late chief minister M G Ramachandran (MGR). Ex-minister and Coimbatore strongman S P Velumani is the Headquarters Secretary, a post previously held by Palaniswami.
A number of other leaders, including former ministers Sellur K Raju, C Ve Shanmugam and R Kamaraj and former Speaker P Dhanapal were made Organisation Secretaries.
Palaniswami was elected as the party's interim general secretary by the AIADMK general council on Monday.
Days after his elevation, Palaniswami on Wednesday asserted that attempts by those 'betraying' the party to split it would not succeed and that the organisation would sustain on the strength of its supporters' hard work.
Palaniswami also said he never thought he would reach such heights in the organisation. Attending a family event of a party functionary in Villupuram, the Leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly said much like the party managed crises and successfully emerged during the days of the late AIADMK stalwarts MG Ramachandran (MGR, the founder) and J Jayalalithaa, it would once again bounce back now and even come to the ruling saddle.