After the election of Edappadi K. Palaniswami as general secretary of the AIADMK in March this year, the party is going to hold a meeting of the general council for the first time on December 26 at a marriage hall near Chennai.
Making an announcement, Mr. Palaniswami, in a release, said presidium chairman Tamilmagan Hussain would chair the meeting. The party’s executive would also meet the same day.
The last time the general council met was on July 11, 2022, when 2,460 members out of a total of 2,665 attended.
Mr. Palaniswami was elected interim general secretary and former coordinator O. Panneerselvam was expelled from the organisation. A series of litigation continued, as it happened before the meeting of the general council.
On March 28, 2023, moments after the Madras High Court dismissed interim applications of Mr. Panneerselvam and his colleagues to restrain the party from implementing its July 11, 2022, general council resolutions and the consequent notification issued on March 17, 2023 for the election to the post of general secretary, Mr. Palaniswami was declared elected to the post. A month later, the Election Commission too recognised Mr. Palaniswami as the general secretary of the party and approved the changes made in the party bylaws, subject to any court direction.
Only earlier this week, the High Court rejected a plea by former interim general secretary of the party, V.K. Sasikala, to declare that she remained in her position since her appointment to the post on December 29, 2016.
On the political front, Mr. Palaniswami, in September, made a sudden move by snapping his party’s ties with a four-year-old ally, the BJP, and quit the National Democratic Alliance.
It is under these circumstances that the general council is going to have its meeting. It is expected that the council will deliberate on the party’s preparations and strategy for the Lok Sabha election, slated for April-May next year.
Meanwhile, Mr. Palaniswami, in an interaction with the media, criticised the DMK government for not having made adequate preparations to meet the situation arising out of heavy rainfall in the current monsoon. It also pulled up the regime for being “insensitive to the plight” of people. Earlier, he met party office bearers of Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts and advised them to provide relief to the rain-hit people.
