Poster near AIADMK hq urges EPS to take over
Wednesday\'s meeting was the AIADMK\'s first after the April Lok Sabha elections in which the party performed dismally winning.
Chennai: Amidst the growing voices for single leadership in the AIADMK, a poster that sprang up outside the party headquarters on Lloyd's Road here on Wednesday, urging Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to take up the post of AIADMK's general secretary, caused a flutter.
Party functionary from the city K. Arumugam, who put up the posters urged the CM to take over the reins of the party as its general secretary — a post held by late CM J. Jayalalithaa, till her demise in 2016. "It's the wishes of the AIADMK cadres to see Edappadi Palaniswami as the general secretary of the party," the poster read.
The posters made a sudden appearance ahead of the party's crucial meeting in the backdrop of party legislators pitching for single leadership as against the dual leadership of Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister O. Paneerselvam who are party's co-coordinator and coordinator, respectively.
Wednesday's meeting was the AIADMK's first after the April Lok Sabha elections in which the party performed dismally winning Theni seat while losing the rest 37 to DMK-combine.
On Saturday, the party's MLA from Madurai North V.V. Rajan Chellapa criticised the party leadership for the drubbing in Lok Sabha polls and said a single leadership was needed to steer the party to victory. Expressing in similar vein, Kunnam legislator R. T. Ramachandran, said the party should have a single leadership.
After Jayalalithaa passed away, the party split and in August 2017, the two factions under Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam merged following the ouster of V.K. Sasikala and T.T.V. Dhinakaran. While Mr. Palaniswami remained Chief Minister and was made co-coordinator of the AIADMK, Mr. Panneerselvam who took over as party coordinator agreed to be the Deputy Chief Minister. Mr. Panneerselvam is also the Leader of the House in the TN Assembly.