AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday expelled two sons of former Chief Minister and expelled leader O. Panneerselvam, including the party’s lone Lok Sabha member from Theni, P. Ravindhranath, and 16 other functionaries from the party’s primary membership for allegedly indulging in “anti-party activities”.
Mr. Panneerselvam’s other son V.P. Jayapradeep and former Minister Vellamandi N. Natarajan were among those expelled.
Former MLAs V.N.P. Venkatraman, R.T. Ramachandran, M.G.M. Subramanian, Omsakthi Sekar and Saidai M.M. Babu and former MPs R. Gopalakrishnan and S.P.M. Syed Khan were also expelled.
AIADMK spokespersons Kovai Selvaraj and Marudu Azhaguraj and functionaries S.A. Asokan, Amman P. Vairamuthu, D. Ramesh, B. Vinubalan, Kolathur D. Krishnamoorthy and S.R. Anjulakshmi were also expelled.
In a statement, Mr. Palaniswami said their actions went against the party’s principles and objectives and against the party’s rules, and they acted in a manner that disturbed the order in the party and brought disrepute to it.
Reacting to the decision, Mr. Panneerselvam said the expulsion of Mr. Ravindhranath was “dictatorship at its peak” and an arbitrary move of Mr. Palaniswami. None of the decisions made by Mr. Palaniswami was valid, he said.
Meanwhile, he issued a statement claiming to be the “AIADMK coordinator” and said Mr. Palaniswami and 21 others stood expelled from the party.
