Va. Pugazhendhi, former spokesperson of the AIADMK, has planned to bring in all expelled members of the AIADMK under one umbrella with a stated objective of ‘ousting’ the party coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, and the co-coordinator, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, from the organisation and ‘bringing back’ the sidelined former interim general secretary V.K. Sasikala into the party.
Pointing out that he had a meeting on Saturday, at a hotel in Chennai, with Anwhar Raajha, former Minister, O. Raja, the brother of Mr. Panneerselvam and chief of the Theni district cooperative milk producers’ union, and ‘Aspire’ K. Swaminathan, former secretary of the IT wing, Mr. Pugazhendhi contended that nearly 1,000 persons would have been removed from the party. “The idea is to bring them all together and hold a convention in every district,” said Mr. Pugazhendhi, who was briefly in the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) led by Ms. Sasikala’s nephew and former MP, T.T.V. Dhinakaran.
Asked whether Mr. Dhinakaran would also be roped in, the former functionary replied that “first, Ms. Sasikala has to be readmitted. “ He accused Mr. Panneerselvam of “‘acting in tandem” with Mr. Palaniswami and “using Ms. Sasikala as a pawn” to promote his political interests. He asserted that the Theni district unit of the party would not have been able to pass a resolution, urging the party leadership to consider the readmission of Ms. Sasikala and Mr. Dhinakaran, without the “approval and knowledge” of Mr. Pannnerselvam. It was only after this development that Mr. Raja met the former interim general secretary but he had been “punished.
Mr. Anwhar Raajha and Mr. Swaminathan distanced themselves from the meeting, saying they went to the hotel on their own and not with the idea of attending any such meeting. While the former said “whatever Mr. Pugazhendhi has said is his view,” the latter acknowledged that he shared his views on how to unify the party, even as he made it clear to Mr. Pugazhendhi that he was no longer in the party.
