AIADMK’s key councils to meet on December 15

CHENNAI: Amidst the verbal duels and clashes among the party functionaries of the AIADMK during the 10-member committee's field-level study and meetings, the general secretary of the party, Edappadi K Palaniswami, has announced that the general and executive council meetings would be held on December 15.

Under the provisions of clauses 19 (vii) and 25 (ii) of the party's bylaws, the meetings will be convened at Vanagaram in Chennai on December 15. Presidium chairman A Tamil Magan Hussan will chair the meeting, Palaniswami said in a statement.

He requested the office bearers of the general and executive councils, along with special invitees, to attend the meetings without fail.

As per the bylaws, the party has to conduct two executive committee meetings and one general council meeting each year. The party held the first executive meeting of the year on August 16 and adopted nine resolutions, including one to criticise the Centre for its 'stepmotherly treatment' of Tamil Nadu for not allocating adequate funds and development projects for the state in the union budget for the fiscal year 2024-2025, while also heaping praise on Palaniswami's 'untiring efforts' in his statewide campaign for the LS elections.

Although the mid-August meeting was held without any major issues, party insiders feel the situation is deteriorating, as dissenting voices are becoming more vocal and expressing discontent over the party's affairs at different levels. The indoor meetings of party functionaries in Thanjavur, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari, and Madurai districts have witnessed verbal duels and clashes among the functionaries, which occurred in the presence of senior leaders Natham R Viswanathan, Dindigul C Sreenivasan, SP Velumani, P Thangamani, Sellur K Raju, and Semmalai.

Though the leaders are trying to downplay the incidents, calling them a natural occurrence in a democratic organisation with more than 2 crore cadres, many senior leaders and old timers refused to accept this version. They are demanding that the leadership reflect on the current situation and consider the views of the party functionaries, who are closely connected with grassroots-level cadres, in order to address the party's declining popularity. "We hope our leader will take some course correction measures to ensure a smooth conduct of the GC and EC meetings in December," said a district secretary in Thevar belt and a strong supporter of Palaniswami.