Chennai: The AIADMK general council meeting has reiterated that former general secretary V K Sasikala and her family members will not be readmitted to the party.
A resolution hailing late party supremo J Jayalalithaa as the ‘permanent party general secretary’ was passed during the meeting held here Sunday.
The posts of co-coordinator and coordinator held by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam are the top two positions in the AIADMK now. The AIADMK asserted that the status quo would prevail and Palaniswami and Panneerselvam would jointly continue to steer the outfit.
The endorsement of the duo’s leadership at the general council and executive committee meet assumes significance as this is the first meeting of the top decision making bodies months after some had voiced support for a single leadership. During the meeting it was also decided to focus and formulate a strategy to attract more youth into the party.
Addressing the meeting Palaniswami asked the district level functionaries to choose the right candidates for the local body elections.
“Some people are trying to stop the local body elections, but it will happen for sure,” he said.
Palaniswami further said, he came to occupy the top slot both in the party and government only after decades of work in the party organisation right from the lowest levels.
“DMK president M K Stalin had no guts to oppose the AIADMK directly and, therefore, instigated many agitations against the government during the past three years. But we have overcome all that together,” he said. Panneerselvam lauded Palaniswami for efficiently helming the goverment and enhancing the reputation of Amma.
In a veiled attack on Rajinikanth for his recent ‘political vacuum’, comment, Deputy Chief Minister Paneerselvam said, ‘there is no vacuum’, adding AIADMK is synonymous with victories and none can snatch it away from it.
Without naming Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dhinakaran, who previously was perceived as a threat to the AIADMK’s leadership, Panneerselvam said cadres who had switched to the rival side realised the deceit and returned to the parent outfit.
At the meeting, 23 resolutions were passed. Among them were resolutions urging the Centre to allocate sufficient funds to Tamilnadu, exempt State from NEET for medical college admissions, ensure equal rights for Tamils in Sri Lanka and implement Cauvery-Godavari and Cauvery-Agniyar-South Vellar-Manimuthar-Vaigai-Gundar link scheme.