Sasikala hits out at EPS, questions removal of O Panneerselvam

Chennai, July 11: Ousted All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader, VK Sasikala on Monday questioned the removal of O Panneerselvam (OPS) from the party, saying you cannot force yourself to attain position of power that actually won't last in a veiled reference to Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS).

"I consider the AIADMK general council meeting held today to be a meeting that can be done for personal interest. The general council meeting held today is definitely invalid because such events should not be held when the case filed by me in the High Court is pending," VK Sasikala told reporters.

She said that former Tamil Nadu CM MGR had started a separate party because of the wrong situation in DMK.

"The same situation should not happen to anyone in the party he started. He created a situation where General Secretary should be elected by the grassroots workers, now they're not working in that way," she was quoted as saying by ANI.

AIADMK leader O Pannerselvam, who was once a most-trusted aide of late J Jayalalithaa, has been expelled from the party on Monday. The AIADMK General Council adopted a resolution to remove O Paneerselvam from the party's primary membership.

The AIADMK on Monday elected Edappady K Palaniswami (EPS) as its Interim General Secretary and vested in him full powers to helm the organisation. In its Executive Committee and General Council meeting, the AIADMK endorsed scrapping the erstwhile top two positions of Coordinator and Joint Coordinator held by O Panneerselvam and (OPS) Palaniswami, respectively.

Precisely, this was what Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS had done years ago against VK Sasikala that culminated in the coming together of the factions led by him and Edappady K Palaniswami (EPS).

After the demise of Jayalalithaa in 2016, the party has been following a dual-leadership formula with EPS as co-coordinator and OPS as coordinator. The clamour has been growing louder for a single leader in the party since the district secretary meeting on June 14 this year.

Earlier in the morning, the Madras High Court allowed the AIADMK party's general council meeting to be held at 9 am, rejecting OPS' plea. The court said that the will of the majority has to prevail and thus, it will not interfere.