EPS vs OPS: Madras HC to decide fate of AIADMK GC meet

The fate of AIADMK’s crucial General Council meet to appoint Edappadi K Palaniswami as the party’s interim general secretary will be sealed just an hour before the scheduled meeting at 10 am on July 11 by the Madras High Court, even as the support base for the former chief minister within the party continues to increase.

Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy will pronounce his verdict at 9 am on Monday on a petition filed by Palaniswami’s rival O Panneerselvam seeking a stay on the GC meeting. The judge had on Friday reserved his verdict on Panneerselvam’s petition in which he argued that the GC meeting cannot be called without his concurrence as he is still the AIADMK coordinator.

Despite the GC meeting hanging in balance, the camp led by Palaniswami is going ahead with preparations for it, expressing the hope that the judgement will be in their favour as the Supreme Court has refused to stay the meeting.

If the meeting takes place on Monday, it is certain that Palaniswami will be elected as the interim general secretary of the AIADMK after abolishing the dual leadership, sources told DH. The meeting also plans to announce dates for the election of the new general secretary, the sources added.

On Saturday, both Palaniswami and Panneerselvam held hectic consultations with their supporters. At least 10 GC members from Theni, Panneerselvam’s home district pledged their support to Palaniswami, whose camp claims that he now has the support of 2,450 of the total 2,600 GC members.

K P Munusamy, who was one of the first to extend support to Panneerselvam during his rebellion against V K Sasikala in 2017, accused his former boss of conspiring against the party by siding with the DMK. “I hang my head in shame for supporting him,” he said, adding that the party wants to go back to a “singular leadership” instead of the current dual leadership.

The Palaniswami camp claims that the posts of coordinator and joint coordinator have ceased to exist from June 23 after a resolution on their election in December 2021 was not ratified by the General Council. However, the Panneerselvam faction doesn’t accept this claim.

Panneerselvam, who stood for Jayalalithaa twice when she had to resign as chief minister due to corruption cases, lost his clout within the party after the 2017 Marina Rebellion against Sasikala even as Palaniswami consolidated his position within the party by completing his tenure and leading the AIADMK to the best-ever performance in a losing election.

The Palaniswami faction believes his being at the top will help the party “counter” the ruling DMK in an “efficient way” and also challenge the BJP which is projecting itself as the principal Opposition party. It was his aides who broached the “unitary leadership” at a meeting on June 14 which was convened to discuss the general council meeting.

Palaniswami, hand-picked by Sasikala as Chief Minister in 2017 before she went to serve her four-year term in a disproportionate assets (DA) case, had stonewalled BJP's proposal to induct Sasikala into the party before the 2021 Assembly polls, maintaining that the “core vote bank” of the AIADMK stays with the party and not the splinter group.