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Late-night Madras HC verdict grants O Panneerselvam relief ahead of AIADMK meet
According to senior AIADMK leaders, the order stated that no bylaws can be passed that would pave the way for a single leadership, which was otherwise going in the favour of Edappadi Palaniswami
Former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam has a reason to cheer after a division bench of the Madras high court, in a post-midnight hearing around 3:30 am on Thursday, restrained his party — the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) — from taking any decision on unitary leadership, just hours before its general council meeting.
The bench of justices M Duraiswamy and Sunder Mohan heard the case at the former’s residence in Chennai and passed the order at 4:30am. According to senior AIADMK leaders, the order stated that no bylaws can be passed that would pave the way for a single leadership, which was otherwise going in the favour of Edappadi Palaniswami.
AIADMK party spokesperson D Jayakumar said they respect the Madras HC verdict, but the party’s majority view is still to scrap the dual leadership and make way for a single leadership.
The late-night hearing was facilitated based on an urgent appeal filed by an AIADMK general council member named Shanmugam over justice Krishnan Ramasamy’s refusal to interfere with the meeting today.
On Tuesday, justice Ramasamy heard both sides of the arguments made by the counsels of Panneerselvam and Palaniswami, and stated that the meeting can go on as scheduled, but since the court can’t preempt what was going to take place, they passed the interim directions in advance.
Rumblings began in the AIADMK a week ago when party workers began voicing their opinion to go back to a single leadership as they were concerned that the dual leadership set up of Panneerselvam and Palaniswami, which came into existence following J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, was not working.
Over time, a majority of the party cadre rallied behind joint coordinator Palaniswami, while an already sidelined coordinator Panneerselvam wanted status quo. Hence, he approached the police and eventually the court, so that the general council doesn’t pass a resolution to elect Palaniswami as the AIADMK’s new leader.
