A day after O Panneerselvam’s brother O Raja met expelled leader V K Sasikala, the AIADMK expelled him the party on Saturday. Three other party functionaries from Theni district (from where Panneerselvam hails) were also expelled for meeting Sasikala in Thiruchendur on Friday.
“The members violated party principles and brought disrespect to the AIADMK,” said a statement from the party which has been jointly signed by joint coordinator Edappadi Palaniowami and coordinator Panneerselvam.
While this is expected of Palaniswami who has been stonewalling Sasikala’s reinduction, Panneerselvam expelling his own brother for meeting her even as he himself has been in favour of her return is leading to confusion in the AIADMK which has already been in disorder.
Few senior leaders but for a close group who acted as an emissary between the two leaders have been in the dark. “OPS has embarrassed himself. He acted without any plan and today he’s had to sacrifice his own brother,” said a leader who is a supporter of Panneerselvam. “He miscalculated that one by one each district will come in support of uniting with Sasikala but once again EPS managed to thwart it.” Raja has been expelled before -- in 2018 -- for anti-party activities but the party had not given out details.
On Saturday, Raja refused to be expelled. “Who are they to expel me?” responded Raja to reporters in Theni.
{{/usCountry}}On Saturday, Raja refused to be expelled. “Who are they to expel me?” responded Raja to reporters in Theni.
{{/usCountry}}Raja said that he has been in the party since the days of the founder M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa who succeeded him. He said that when he interacted with Sasikala on Thursday, he conveyed to her that they should bring back Amma’s (Jayalalithaa) rule.
“For that Chinamma (Sasikala) has to take over the party.” Raja also ridiculed the dual leadership saying that they have expelled him as though he met another party leader.
The AIADMK’s loss in the urban local body polls held in February is the party’s fourth electoral defeat since Jayalalithaa died in December 2016. And since Palaniswami and Panneerselvam jointly ran the party while Sasikala was in prison. This loss and their ally BJP’s growth in the civic polls has reignited the call for a unified party with a section supporting Sasikala’s return. This section is largely from Panneerselvam’s camp as he and Sasikala belong to the same Thevar community.
Sasikala on Friday began a two-day tour of southern districts in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts which is turning into a pilgrimage-cum-political tour. She received a rousing reception with supporters waving AIADMK flags. Sasikala had recently remarked that the AIADMK had never faced so many electoral defeats in its 50-year-history and called for a united party. Raja met her at a hotel in Tiruchendur in Thoothukudi. Raja had also attended Sasikala’s nephew and AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran’s daughter’s wedding last year.
As Palanswami has solidified his position as the numero uno of the party and Panneerselvam has been sidelined, the latter has often used the Sasikala trump card before the duo struck peace. On March 2, Panneerselvam held a meeting at his Theni residence which was viewed as bringing Sasikala’s supporters together.
On the same night AIADMK’s Theni district secretary Syed Khan handed over their unit’s resolution to Panneerselvam asking the party high command to bring back everyone who left after the death of Jayalalithaa including Sasikala and Dhinakaran. The latter, who leads the breakaway faction of AMMK, said that he can comment only if the AIADMK unitedly decides to take them back in.
On Saturday, the AIADMK also expelled 33 other functionaries in Theni district for supporting DMK candidates in the urban local body elections.