All eyes on AIADMK General Council meet tomorrow, decision on Sasikala removal likely

The meeting was being held in the backdrop of the government headed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami falling short of a simple majority after 19 'rebel' MLAs owing allegiance to 'ousted' Party Deputy General Secretary and Sasikala's nephew TTV Dinakaran, expressed lack of confidence in the Chief Minister and withdrew their support to him.

This triggered persistent demands from the Opposition and also from the Dhinakaran camp for a fresh trust vote to be sought by the Government to prove its majority in the Assembly.

A delegation of Opposition leaders led by DMK Working President and leader of the Opposition M K Stalin and a group of rebel MLAs along with Dhinakran twice submitted petitions to Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao urging him to direct the Chief Minister to seek a trust vote in the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court also cleared the decks for holding the General Council and the Executive meeting by dismissing the petition filed by rebel MLA and Dinakaran loyalist P Vetrivel and also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on him for filing a vexatious litigation.

The petition by Vetrivel said the meeting convened by the ruling camp was illegal and sought stay stating that the General Secretary (GS) and Deputy GS alone has the powers to convene such meetings.

Dismissing the plea, Justice C V Karthikeyan said the petitioner could either attend the general council by honouring the invitation extended to him or choose to have sumptuous lunch alone at the venue or alternatively ignore the invite and sit at home.

He could certainly not be allowed to file a vexatious litigation, Mr Justice Karthikeyan added.

In a related development, Fisheries Minister D Jayakaumar said the Executive and the General Council was convened as per law and would be held as usual at the Srivaari Kalyana Hall at suburban Vaanagaram, one of the most sought after venue for political parties to hold their crucial meetings.

This was the first General council meeting convened by the ruling camp after the warring factions headed by Mr Palaniswami and his predecessor O Panneerselvam merged on August 21 and the latter made the Deputy Chief Minister under the power-sharing agreement.

To run the party affairs, a Steering Committee has been formed at the time of merger appointing Mr Panneerselvam as the Coordinator and Mr Palaniswami as the Joint Coordinator.

One of the key demands made by the OPS camp for merger was a probe into the mystery behind the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, besides ousting both Sasikala and Dhinakaran clan from the party.

The merger took place after Mr Palaniswami announced that a Commission of Inquiry would be appointed to probe 'Amma's' death.

In the run up to the merger, a meeting convened by Palaniswami had also already 'ousted' Dinakaran from the party saying his appointment as DGS itself was made in violative of party bye-laws as he was not a member of the party for five years and that decisions taken by him, including sacking Ministers, Chief Minister, MPs, MLAs and senior leaders from the party posts and replacing them with his supporters, were not binding on the AIADMK cadres.

Immediately, after the merger was announced on August 21, AIADMK Rajya Sabha Member R Vaithilingam said the General Council would be convened soon to decide on removing Sasikala from the party.

Since then the intra-party power tussle between the EPS-OPS camp and the combative Dinakaran camp hit a low with TTV taking the MLAs supporting him to a resort in Coorg after housing in Puducherry farm house for more than two weeks.

Reacting to the Chief Minister's announcement that the General Council meeting would be held on September 12, Dinakaran mounted an all out offensive and said the meeting convened by the unified AIADMK was 'illegal' and warned of legal action against those who convened it and those attending it.

He also appealed to the party cadres not to attend the meeting convened by the ruling faction tomorrow and warned of legal action against those participating in it by violating his (Dinakaran's) order.