AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami urged cadres to stay united and said the general council would be convened at the appropriate time. Coimbatore/Chennai: Days after rebel AIADMK leader C Ve Shanmugam wanted the party’s general council to be convened to discuss AIADMK’s alleged waning influence, senior AIADMK leader S P Velumani has renewed the demand for reinduction of expelled leaders, including former chief minister O Panneerselvam , V K Sasikala and AMMK chief T T V Dhinakaran , to revitalise the party.
He rejected claims by Sengottaiyan that 15 AIADMK functionaries were set to quit the party.
He said votes polled by AIADMK in Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls were less than what it did in the past, but the party’s organisational strength remained intact. Meanwhile, Palaniswami told reporters in Trichy that AIADMK was convening its general council without fail every year. “The meeting will be convened at the right time,” he said. Earlier, in a statement, he appealed to party cadres to remain united to face the new challenges and defeat “anti-democratic forces and the anti-people govt”.
“We believe that Amma’s (late chief minister J Jayalalithaa) close aide Sasikala, Dhinakaran, OPS, and other leaders who were sidelined due to various reasons, must be brought back.
Only then will AIADMK regain its full strength,” he said. Though he did not name TVK minister K A Sengottaiyan, Velumani said his expulsion was triggered by “unavoidable internal circumstances”. OPS has joined DMK and become an MLA While Dhinakaran and Sasikala have floated parties of their own.
Velumani told reporters in Coimbatore on Friday that he doesn’t want to criticise Palaniswami but wants the AIADMK chief to take steps to bring former leaders back into the fold.