AIADMK MLAs to meet on July 17 with Presidential polls, Panneerselvam's successor on agenda

AIADMK has 66 legislators but only 63 are expected to attend the meeting as Panneerselvam, and 2 of his supporters have been expelled

AIADMK Legislature Party leader and interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami will on Sunday chair a meeting of the party legislators to discuss the Presidential elections scheduled for July 18. It is also expected to discuss replacing O Panneerselvam, who was expelled as the deputy leader of the legislature party on July 11.

With the AIADMK headquarters sealed, the meeting will be held at a five-star hotel in Chennai, sources in the know told DH. The meeting is being held to tell the MLAs how to vote in the Presidential elections, the sources said, adding that BJP MLA Vanathi Sreenivasan, polling agent of NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu, is likely to explain the process to the legislators.

AIADMK has 66 legislators but only 63 are expected to attend the meeting as Panneerselvam, and his supporters R Vaithilingam and P H Manoj Pandian have been expelled from the party. “The meeting is primarily to discuss the Presidential polls but is also likely to discuss the vacant deputy leader of opposition post,” a senior leader said.

He explained that Panneerselvam cannot continue to hold the post as he has been expelled from the party. Speculation is rife that Palaniswami will choose the next deputy leader of the legislature party from Mukulathor, the community to which OPS and V K Sasikala belong, to send a clear message that he will take everyone along in running the party.

The meeting comes days after Palaniswami sacked 18 senior functionaries and several others owing allegiance to Panneerselvam including his son and Theni MP O P Ravindranath.

However, OPS maintains EPS has no powers to sack him from the party as he is still the coordinator in the records of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

In new appointments after taking charge as interim general secretary, EPS has kept caste calculations in mind by inducting four Mukulathors, two Vanniyars, and two from Scheduled Caste (SC) as organising secretaries of the AIADMK. EPS also appointed two deputy general secretaries – one from Mukulathors and another from Vanniyars.