About six months after the Election Commission of India (EC) froze the AIADMK’s election symbol — two leaves — the unified party, led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and deputy CM O Panneerselvam, on Friday submitted the general council resolutions which had abolished the post of general secretary and created the posts of coordinator and joint coordinator to steer the party.
The unified party’s submissions to EC included an intimation about the merger of the factions earlier led by Palaniswami and Panneerselvam. Those loyal to V K Sasikala, who is in jail in a corruption case and is represented by her nephew and sidelined party deputy general secretary T T V Dinakaran, claim she is still the general secretary and a claimant for the party symbol.
The EC has stated that it will hear the dispute over the symbol on October 5. And the poll panel’s response to the unified AIADMK’s claim is going to be crucial, as senior AIADMK leaders said an order in favour of the ruling faction may weaken the Sasikala faction.
A senior party leader close to Palaniswami said if the unified AIADMK wins the EC case, more MLAs from the Sasikala-Dinakaran camp will join them, and the government can emerge from the crisis in case of a floor test in the Assembly later. The Madras High Court has put a stay on floor test until October 4.
On August 29, Dinakaran had demanded that the EC should hear him before taking any decision on the symbol row. Based on affidavits filed by the warring factions in March, Dinakaran’s memorandum to the EC pointed out that Sasikala was the principal respondent in the case (the Palaniswami faction was with her at the time). He, therefore, sought a chance for her, and himself, to present their case before the poll panel.
On Friday, the unified AIADMK team led by former minister K P Munusamy, who supports Panneerselvam, and minister D Jayakumar, a Palaniswami loyalist, visited the EC headquarters in New Delhi and submitted details in the wake of a merger between the two factions on August 21.
The unified AIADMK and the Sasikala-Dinakaran faction are now fighting for the party symbol. A third claimant for the symbol is Deepa, Jayalalithaa’s niece and leader of the new political outfit MGR Amma Deepa Peravai, but she is not seen as a serious contender.
In Delhi, Munusamy told the media that the Palaniswami and Panneerselvam factions decided to unite “to protect the glory of Jayalalithaa and to provide good governance” to the people of Tamil Nadu. He said they have submitted individual affidavits declaring support from AIADMK ministers, MLAs and MPs to the EC as part of staking claim to the symbol.
On Friday, the ruling faction got another boost when Tenkasi MP Vasanthi Murugesan, who was in the Dinakaran camp, met Palaniswami in Chennai to join the unified AIADMK.
