Sasikala's time to be 'leading' the AIADMK is officially over. The General Council (GC) of the party that met at Sreevaru Venkatachalapathy palace in Vanagaram, booted out Sasikala as General Secretary. Not just Sasikala, her nephew TTV Dhinakaran too has been stripped of his post.
The eighth resolution adopted by the GC declared that the post of temporary General Secretary stands forfeited and Sasikala has been expelled as General Secretary.
As the resolution was read out, the room broke into a huge round of applause.
However, the duo will continue to retain primary membership in the party. Though Sasikala was chosen as the interim General Secretary in December 2016, the AIADMK has witnessed massive changes in the last nine months.
The main reason why O Panneerselvam decided to merge his faction with that of Edappadi Palaniswamy's is because the latter agreed to the condition that Sasikala and Dhinakaran would be ousted from their party posts.
The AIADMK GC, comprising of 2140 members and 290 Executive Council members, also decided that none of the appointments made by TTV Dhinakaran would be binding on the party.
The GC also decided that all the powers of the General Secretary would be transferred to O Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami, who will head the party's steering committee.
Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam read out the resolutions at the GC. He said, "The AIADMK will continue to be a unified faction and we shall retrieve the two leaves symbol. Office bearers appointed by Amma will continue, two leaves and Aiadmk name to be retrieved."
The meeting also decided that J Jayalalithaa would continue to be the General Secretary of the party. The seventh resoltuion stated, "General secretary post is always to be held by AMMA and it shall remain forever, and only AMMA has all the credibility to be there. There is no one else for the post and the byelaw is ratified to that effect."