A day after a chaotic AIADMK general council meeting in which party workers booed its leader O. Panneerselvam, its steering committee member and former Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam on Friday said the tenure of the coordinator, Mr. Panneerselvam, and co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami ended on Thursday, as the amendment to the by-laws that facilitated their election to these posts was not validated by the general council.
“As of today, Mr. Panneerselvam is the treasurer and Mr. Edappadi K. Palaniswami is the headquarters secretary,” he said at an interaction with journalists outside Mr. Palaniswami’s residence .
Flanked by senior leaders S.P. Velumani, D. Jayakumar, Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan, C. Vijayabaskar, Pollachi V. Jayaraman and Thalavai Sundaram, Mr. Shanmugam cited party rules to reject the claims by AIADMK leader R. Vaithilingam (who has sided with Mr. Panneerselvam) that the general council meeting held on Thursday was illegal.
Stating that the “then coordinator”, Mr. Panneerselvam, and the “then co-coordinator”, Mr. Palaniswami, had jointly called the meeting, Mr. Shanmugam sought to know whether Mr. Vaithilingam questioned Mr. Panneerselvam’s signature.
Since the posts of the coordinator and the co-coordinator were not validated by the general council, “they ended,” he said, adding that the general council meeting had the authority to elect the presidium chairman.
Mr. Shanmugam maintained that the election of A. Tamilmagan Hussain as the presidium chairman was valid, as he was elected by the general council, and the Election Commission was “to be merely intimated” of the election to the party posts and its approval was not needed.
As the tenure of the coordinator and the co-coordinator had ended, the new presidium chairman had the authority to convene the general council for July 11 after receiving pleas from a majority of the general council members. The general council was the supreme body and it had the authority to make or amend laws, he maintained.
Mr. Shanmugam said that according to a by-law, one-fifth of the members of the general council could seek a meeting; the meeting had to be convened within 30 days of the request having been received. Therefore, the general council meeting convened for July 11 by the presidium chairman (as sought by 2,190 members) was valid, he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Panneerselvam’s supporter and another steering committee member J.C.D. Prabhakar told journalists at his residence that Mr. Panneerselvam was insulted at Thursday’s meeting.
He said the microphone that Mr. Panneerselvam attempted to use was turned off and he was denied a chance to present the party’s financial statement (as treasurer).
According to him, Mr. Panneerselvam and his supporters (including him) went to the meeting as it was their “duty”, but the world saw the “dignity” with which they were treated. Empty bottles were thrown at Mr. Panneerselvam, who was handpicked by Jayalalithaa for Chief Ministership twice, he said.
The former legislator said the “AIADMK is not the property of EPS or OPS”.
