Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O Panneerselvam (OPS), who was ousted from the AIADMK a few days ago, has now been removed from his position of deputy floor leader in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The party made this announcement on Tuesday, July 19. Former Minister RB Udhayakumar was elected as AIADMK's deputy leader in the Assembly, the party's interim general secretary, Edappadi K Palaniswami said.
Palaniswami said that Udhayakumar, representing the Tirumangalam Assembly constituency, was elected as deputy leader by the party in a meeting of its MLAs held on July 17. He also added that Agri SS Krishnamurthy, also a former Minister, was elected as deputy secretary of the party.
The AIADMK has been seeing a leadership tussle between EPS and OPS for a few months now. On July 11, EPS prevailed and was elected as the interim head of the party. Meanwhile, the General Council of AIADMK passed a special resolution sacking O Panneerselvam and his supporters from primary membership of the party.
But things did not end there. O Panneerselvam announced that he is sacking Edappadi Palaniswamy and senior leader KP Munuswamy from the party. He said that both the leaders cannot violate the party bye-laws and do not have the power to expel him from the party.
O Panneerselvam had been protesting against AIADMK’s plan to remove the dual leadership model within the party and opposing the party member’s plans to elect E Palaniswamy as the ‘single, supreme leader’. OPS had moved the Madras High Court to stall the General Council meeting scheduled for July 11 but the High Court disposed of his petition and allowed the meeting to proceed as per the schedule.
At the General Council meeting, several leaders called for action against OPS for acting against the interests of the party. Senior AIADMK leader Natham Vishwannathan said that action will be taken against OPS and alleged that he has a “brutal face” that is completely opposite to his reputation as a “calm person.”
(With PTI inputs)