Hours before the executive committee meeting of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the party's top leaders Edappadi Karuppa Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam sacked senior leader and ex-Member of Parliament (MP) Anwhar Raajhaa from the party, for 'questioning' their leadership. Raajhaa was recently in the news after he accused the AIADMK leadership of lacking transparency and straying from the path laid down by party founder MG Ramachandran and former Chief Minister late J Jayalalitha.
Stating that the AIADMK lacked strong leadership, he said this was reflected in the recent rural body elections held in Tamil Nadu, which was swept by the ruling DMK. According to reports, he was even heckled at a district secretaries meeting, where he made the speech, and asked to leave. In October this year, Anwhar Raajhaa had also said that expelled leader and Jayalalithaa's former aide VK Sasikala should be taken back into the AIADMK fold.
Hours before the executive committee meeting, EPS- OPS sack senior AIADMK leader & Ex-MP Anwar Raja from the party for questioning their leadership qualities.
— Shabbir Ahmed (@Ahmedshabbir20) November 30, 2021
Recently, at a party meeting he was allegedly heckled by an Ex-Minister. This has left many seniors unhappy. pic.twitter.com/Wuo6f1MFJJ
Sasikala, the former interim General Secretary of the party, is trying to make a re-entry to the AIADMK. Arrested and jailed in a disproportionate asset case in 2017, she has been trying to make a political comeback after her release. O Panneerselvam has said that her return will be decided by the party high command. A section of party leaders led by Edappadi K Palaniswami is opposing her re-entry into the party fold with former fisheries minister D. Jayakumar stating that she would never be allowed into the AIADMK.
Meanwhile, the opposition AIADMK is all set to hold a meeting of one of its key decision-making bodies, the Executive Committee, on December 1 in Chennai. The meeting will be held under the leadership of Coordinator O Panneerselvam and Joint Coordinator K Palaniswami at the AIADMK headquarters and is likely to take important organisational decisions, including appointing new Chairman for the party presidium.
The meeting is also likely to decide on whether the number of steering committee members is to be increased from the present 11 to 18 as demanded by some leaders. It may be noted that the party presidium chairman and senior leader E. Madhusudanan passed away in August 2021. The General Council is the other decision-making body.
The AIADMK has been losing electoral battles since the 2019 general elections and continued in the downward slide movement even in the rural panchayat elections in nine districts. The party faced a heavy drubbing in the 2021 Assembly elections and this has prompted several leaders to come up with alternate suggestions to improve the performance of the party.
With IANS and PTI inputs