The Madras High Court on Monday, July 11, allowed the AIADMK General Council meet to be held in Chennai, paving the way for Edappadi K Palaniswami to be named the singular head of the party. The High Court disposed of O Panneerselvam’s plea to stall the AIADMK General Council meeting.
Ahead of the meeting, supporters of EPS and O Panneerselvam clashed in front of the party headquarters — with some seen hitting each other with sticks and pushing each other. Both factions were also seen burning posters of the opposing faction. Visuals also showed some persons hurling stones at each other and some men damaging vehicles parked nearby.
Clashes break out between OPS and EPS supporters ahead of AIADMK General Council meeting#AIADMK #TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/LnCxCBBagd
— TheNewsMinute (@thenewsminute) July 11, 2022
The party's 'historic' general council and executive committee meeting on July 11 is now expected to elect Palaniswami as the single, supreme party leader, with O Panneerselvam now clearly relegated to the background. All arrangements are in place to hold the meet on the premises of a marriage hall on the city's outskirts. A large open area on the premises has been tin-roofed to host the event and accommodate about 3,000 functionaries. A grand dais, about 80 ft in length and 40 ft in breadth, is set to accommodate senior leaders.
With the OPS camp stoutly opposing the meeting to pick Palaniswami as the top leader, the party has installed entry control equipment like flap barriers and turnstile to allow only authorised functionaries with access cards, seen as a first in Tamil Nadu by any political party.
The entire premises is decked up with portraits of party icons, MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa while Palaniswami's picture is carefully interspersed. The entire locality wore a festive look and Palaniswami is set to be given a grand reception on his arrival for the meeting.
Both the Palaniswami and Panneerselvam's camps continued their discussions separately over their future course of action. EPS supporters and party leaders, including P Thangamani and RB Udhayakumar, on Sunday reviewed the arrangements being made to host the event. While Palaniswami's side said the support from GC members has increased to 2,455, Panneerselvam faction said that OPS had the support of 1.5 crore party members. The party has about 2,650 GC members.
AIADMK sources indicated that Panneerselvam, the party treasurer, has the option of only boycotting the meeting. On June 23, when the GC met, chaotic scenes were witnessed and a sidelined OPS was prompted to walk away with his supporters after making known his opposition to Palaniswami camp.
Since last month, the AIADMK has been witnessing serious intra-party wrangling over the issue of single-leadership and Palaniswami has the support of an overwhelming majority and Panneerselvam has been sidelined in the party. It is expected that the AIADMK may soon act against Panneerselvam.
With PTI inputs