AMMK Chief and VK Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran withdrew his petition challenging the AIADMK’s decision to remove him as the Deputy General Secretary of the party. The petition was filed in 2017, after the AIADMK General Council passed resolutions removing VK Sasikala and Dhinakaran as the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary of the party.
As per reports, TTV Dhinakaran told the court that he has decided to withdraw the case since he has founded his own political party. His counsel, on Monday, filed a memo for withdrawing the case while Sasikala’s counsel sought time to get instructions from his client. In September 2017, after the AIADMK General Council adopted resolutions removing TTV Dhinakaran and Sasikala, the duo filed a petition with the Madras High Court, seeking to declare Edappadi K Palaniswami, O Panneerselvam, S Semmalai, Madhusudanan E and Dindigul C Srinivasan as non-members of AIADMK. The general council meeting took place after the merger of the Edappadi Palaniswami faction (which was led by VK Sasikala before she went to jail in the Disproportionate Assets case) and the O Panneerselvam faction of the AIADMK.
In their petition, Dhinakaran and Sasikala further claimed that since the five AIADMK leaders were not even members of the party, all actions taken by them as office-bearers of the party are illegal and against the by-laws of the AIADMK. The case is being heard at a city civil court and it was filed for an early hearing after Sasikala was released from the prison. While Sasikala’s counsel sought time to get instructions, the counsel for Edappadi K Palaniswami and other leaders sought dismissal of the plea by ruling that Sasikala and Dhinakaran do not have claim over the AIADMK. The counsel said that the issue has been settled by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and further confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Sasikala has declared that she will stay away from politics till the elections to ensure a thumping victory to the AIADMK.
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