Chennai, July 24 (BPNS)

Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, O. Panneerselvam who was expelled from the AIADMK on July 11 during its general council meeting has said that he was appointing office bearers of the party.

The former AIADMK Chief coordinator said that he was appointing party Rajya Sabha Member,  R. Dharmar, former MP, R. Gopalakrishnan, and former legislators V.N.P. Venkitaraman, and Kovai Selvaraj were the party leaders who were given party positions by OPS.

While OPS still claims that he is the coordinator of AIADMK and that he was appointing these leaders in his capacity as the coordinator, the party general council meeting posted Edappadi K. Palaniswami as the party general secretary and expelled OPS from the party.

The AIADMK was in a major rift since the party lost power in the 2021 assembly elections with O. Panneerselvam on the one side and Edappadi K. Palaniswami on the other side. However, in the general council of the party, it became clear that it was Edappadi K. Palaniswami who was calling the shots and that OPS was woefully outnumbered leading to his expulsion from the party.

The AIADMK is in a process of reinventing with the possibility of the party moving towards the Congress and snapping ties with the BJP in Tamil Nadu. As Edappadi K. Palaniswami has become the single power centre in the party, he can take decisions without hindrance.

AIADMK leader and Member of Parliament, CVe Shanmugham who is a close confidant of Edappadi K. Palaniswami has filed a police complaint at the Royapettah police station on his barging into the party headquarters along with his supporters. CVe Shanmugham who is also the former Law minister in his complaint said that several valuable documents were missing from the AIADMK office.