The headquarters of the opposition AIADMK - ‘MGR Maaligai’ - in Chennai, was reopened on Thursday, July 21, ten days after it was sealed by Revenue authorities following violence that broke out between supporters of rival leaders Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam. Revenue officials removed the seal in the presence of police personnel and senior party leaders.The office was de-sealed following the Madras High Court order on Wednesday quashing the order of the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) that sealed the AIADMK headquarters on July 11.
On July 11, the party's General Council elected Palaniswami as the new interim General Secretary, doing away with the dual leadership system that was in place earlier. The RDO, invoking the powers under Section 145 (dispute concerning land or water is likely to cause breach of peace) of the Criminal Procedure Code, sealed the party headquarters.
On Wednesday, Justice Satish Kumar passed an order allowing the reopening of the party headquarters and the keys to be handed over to the interim General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami. The judge also directed the Royapettah police to provide round-the-clock protection to the office located on Avvai Shanmugam Salai. No party cadres shall be allowed inside the office for one month to avoid any untoward incident, the judge added.
In compliance with the court order, the party cadres did not visit the headquarters on Thursday. The revenue officials under Mylapore Tahsildar removed the seal and lock at the entrance gates and two other places inside the headquarters in the presence of police and senior leaders, former minister C Ve Shanmugam and V Mahalingam. They handed over the keys to the party manager.
In light of the tussle between the two leaders, OPS was removed from his position of deputy floor leader in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The party made this announcement on Tuesday. Former Minister RB Udhayakumar was elected as AIADMK's deputy leader in the Assembly.