AIADMK Coordinator OPS writes letter to Election Commission, calls party meeting 'illegal, unlawful'

O Panneerselvam called the meeting a violation of bylaws and rules as such "meetings could be convened only with the approval of both coordinator and joint coordinator.

This letter comes just a few hours after AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam's photo was torn from AIADMK banner by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) supporters which was kept at AIADMK office. Later EPS camp clarified that we will keep a new banner soon and we should avoid such incidents in future.

Now new banner with O.Pannerselvam face has been set up at AIADMK Head Quarters.

In the letter, OPS said, "The election of presidium chairman at the general council and the headquarters functionaries meeting held on Monday were illegal and unlawful."After AIADMK's headquarters secretary (Edappadi K Palaniswami) called for a meeting of AIADMK headquarters functionaries at 10 am on Monday at party office in Chennai, O Panneerselvam said that the meeting has been called in contravention of the party's bylaw.

OPS, in the letter, said that only the coordinator and co-coordinator have the powers to convene any party meeting and any decision taken in such meetings will not have any say over the coordinator and joint coordinator of the party.

On June 24, the battle for single leadership in the AIADMK between former Tamil Nadu chief minister and party co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and his former deputy CM and coordinator O Panneersevelam (OPS) seems to have ended as OPS ceased to be the coordinator of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

AIADMK leader CV Shanmugam on Friday said that senior leader O Panneerselvam (OPS), who openly opposed the idea of a single leadership, has ceased to be the coordinator of the party.This comes after the general council meeting which was meant to adopt several resolutions on June 23 ended in vain.

While speaking with media persons on June 24, CV Shanmugam said, "General Council Meeting of AIADMK happened yesterday. As of yesterday, in the AIADMK general council meeting, the earlier modified bylaw resolution was not tabled. So now automatically dual leadership has expired."

This means, in a simplified version that, AIADMK's dominant Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) faction today asserted that the system of dual leadership, that vested powers on Coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS) and Joint Coordinator EPS ceased to be in force, a day after the General Council stood firm on the single leadership demand.

"Panneerselvam is only the treasurer of AIADMK and Edappadi K Palaniswami is the headquarters secretary of the party," added Shanmugham during the press meet where he was seen along with other senior AIADMK leaders like SP Velumani, D Jayakumar, C Vijayabaskar and others.

Notably, till 2016, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was the sole leader of the AIADMK. When Jayalalithaa passed away in 2016, the party decided to appoint OPS to the Chief Minister's chair.

However, in February 2017, AIADMK suffered a crushing defeat in the state elections and Sasikala, Jayalalithaa's close aide, decided to take over the leadership. Subsequently, OPS was replaced as CM by EPS. This caused a lot of turmoil in the AIADMK.

As time passed by, OPS became the coordinator of AIADMK with EPS becoming the co-coordinator. AIADMK was being run as a party with dual leadership. But now, the call for a unitary leadership has intensified and all eyes are on the crucial general council meeting on July 11. (ANI)