AIADMK general council meeting on December 29

Even as the AIADMK General Council meeting is set to be held on December 29, the Madras High Court has reserved its orders on a plea seeking to restrain the AIADMK from electing V K Sasikala as the General Secretary of the party.

Justice K Kalyanasundaram after hearing arguments from both sides on the issue, reserved his orders without announcing a date. Senior Counsel R Krishnamurthy appearing on behalf of AIADMK stressed that the expelled Rajya Sabha member Sasikala Pushpa has no locus standi to file the suit going by her own submission that she is aware of her expulsion from the party. By such knowledge, she loses the locus standi as an AIADMK member to move the plea, he argued. He further contended that even the second plaintiff, Sasikala Pushpa’s husband, who claims to be a primary member, only states of his intention to help his wife in her political career and nothing else in in his independent capacity as a party member. 

About cause of action, he contended that the entire suit is based on media reports and that cannot be the basis of a suit before this court. Also, countering the argument that V K Sasikala lacks primary membership continuously for five years citing a suspension, the senior counsel submitted that the then general secretary J Jayalalithaa had clearly stated in her revocation order that the suspension stood cancelled. Senior Counsel K M Vijayan contended that the when the suit was moved the date of the meeting in which Sasikala would be elected as General Secretary was vague. But now the party has officially announced that the meeting would be held on December 29. 

Denying the argument that media report cannot be basis of a suit, Vijayan said, “the plaintiff had personal knowledge about the attempt to elect Sasikala. The same information was also published. And such reports are the only documents available to the plaintiff in the public domain. The cause of action of the plea arises out of a situation which does not require documents to substantiate.” On Sasikala Pushpa’s expulsion, Vijayan contended that knowledge of expulsion is different from official communication.