AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam on Thursday came out openly against the scheme of ‘single leadership’ to steer the party, which was mooted by certain functionaries on Tuesday, and emphasised that this was not the right time for the matter to be pursued.
Breaking his silence on the issue, Mr. Panneerselvam, who met mediapersons late in the day at his Greenways Road residence in Chennai, along with deputy coordinator R. Vaithilingam, MLA Manoj Pandian and steering committee member J.C.D. Prabhakar, said the debate would only create confusion among the party workers, a scenario which he would like to avoid at any cost. Besides, at the general council meeting in September 2017, a resolution was adopted to the effect that former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was the permanent general secretary and hence, the post stood abolished. “Any move to revive the post would be seen as a mark of betrayal to Amma [Jayalalithaa],” he argued, adding the arrangement of ‘dual leadership’ was going on smoothly all these years. The top priority of the party should be to “re-establish Amma’s rule”.
Besides, the Election Commission had given its approval for the present system of electing the coordinator and the co-coordinator by the primary members of the party through a single vote. Based on the development, the organisational elections had taken place at all levels and a meeting of the general council had been called for June 23 to ratify the entire election process. “What is the need for the issue to crop up at this juncture?” Mr. Panneerselvam wondered, criticising the party’s organisation secretary and former Minister, D. Jayakumar, for the media briefing he did after a meeting of the district secretaries and other senior functionaries at the party headquarters.
