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Hundreds of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) functionaries in Erode district have resigned from their posts on Sunday, September 8, a day after the removal of senior leader KA Sengottaiyan from organisational posts by party secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.
The resignations were submitted by cadres from Gobichettipalayam and Nambiyur. Some of them visited the local party offices to submit the letters en masse or handed them directly to former MP V Sathyabama, who has publicly extended support to Sengottaiyan.
Sengottaiyan, a nine-time MLA and one of the AIADMK’s most senior leaders, was stripped of his posts as organisation secretary and Erode (Rural West) district secretary on Saturday.
His removal came just a day after he set a 10-day deadline to party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, demanding that expelled leaders like former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) founder-president TTV Dhinakaran, and VK Sasikala be reinstated.
Along with Sengottaiyan, six office-bearers in Erode (Rural West), including union secretaries, town secretaries and IT wing members, were also sacked.
Expressing solidarity with Sengottaiyan, former Tiruppur MP Sathyabama, who resigned from her post as AIADMK women’s wing district secretary (Erode Suburban West), told the media on Sunday that the decision of cadres to step down was voluntary.
“AIADMK functionaries from Gobichettipalayam East, West, Town units and Nambiyur have resigned. No one was coerced. More resignations will follow not just from Erode, but from other districts as well,” she said.
Sathyabama was later sacked from party posts by the party's general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.