With the Governor yet to announce how the deadlock between OPS and Sasikala will be resolved, OPS’s supporters are leaving no stone unturned to thwart Sasikala’s journey to the CM’s post.
In the latest such move, the recently sacked AIADMK Presidium Chairman, E Madhusudhanan, wrote to the Election Commission claiming that the appointment of VK Sasikala as the interim General Secretary of the AIADMK is illegal and hence, should be rejected.
In the letter, Madhusudhanan argued that Rule 20 (ii) of the AIADMK Constitution dictates that a “General Secretary has to be elected by the Primary Members of all party units of Tamil Nadu and the Members of the Party in other states.” He argued that the appointment of Sasikala as the party General Secretary is illegal as she was named to the post by the party General Council.
While the Sasikala camp had claimed that she had been elected in accordance with Rule 19 (viii) of the bye-laws, Madhusudhanan claimed that 19 (viii) does not incorporate the selection of the General Secretary, and only deals with the framing and implementation of policies and programmes of the party.
Madhusudhanan also said that Rule 43 of the bye-laws states that while the General Council has the power to amend every rule in the party, the only exception to this is the election of a General Secretary. This rule cannot be changed or amended since it forms a part of the basic structure of the party bye-laws.
Madhusudhanan also added that Sasikala can’t be made the party General Secretary as she was disqualified as a member on December 19, 2011 and and re-admitted only on 31st March, 2012. Rule 30 (v) dictates that anyone contesting for a party post must have been a member for the previous five years without any break. As Sasikala was re-admitted to the party on March 31, she had fallen a few months short of this five-year limit when she was made General Secretary.
Incidentally, Madhusudhanan was himself sacked from his party post as the Presidium Chairman via earlier on Friday, after he transferred his allegiance to the OPS camp.
The party announced that MLA KA Sengottaiyan would be Madhusudhanan’s replacement.
E Madhusudhanan, one of the first high-profile leaders to back OPS, had announced his allegiances on Thursday morning.
In another development on Friday, an activist group in Chennai filed a complaint with DGP TK Rajendran, alleging that Sasikala and her relatives were involved in land encroachment.
Despite these many developments, however, a calm before the storm reigned, with both groups eagerly awaiting word from Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao, who has made no official statements after meeting Sasikala and OPS on Thursday evening.
The larger group of MLAs in the Sasikala camp continued to remain at a beachside resort on the East Coast Road. While there was no public contact with MLAs on Thursday, some of them began to make media appearances on Friday. Facing allegations that they were being held against their will, they told the media that they were in the resort of their own free will, and completely supported Sasikala.