EPS expels veteran leader Panruti S Ramachandran

CHENNAI: Seasoned political leader Panruti S Ramachandran was expelled from the AIADMK by the interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami within hours of rival faction leader O Panneerselvam appointing the 85-year-old veteran as his party’s political advisor on Tuesday.

One of the top-notch ministers in all the MGR governments since the beginning of AIADMK rule in the state, Ramachandran first became Palaniswami’s target of attack for criticising him on the birth anniversary celebrations of C N Annadurai on Saturday.  

Ramachandran had accompanied Pannerselvam to the Anna Samadhi and had made a scathing attack on Palaniswami, accusing him of not being accommodative of other AIADMK leaders.

Though Ramachandran was keeping himself away from active politics after the passing away of J Jayalalithaa, Panneerselvam had called on him last Friday and urged him to accompany him to Anna Samadhi the next day.

Earlier, V.K. Sasikala, the ousted general secretary of the AIADMK who had been trying to rejoin the party ever since she came out of jail completing her sentence, had also called on Ramachandran, purportedly to seek his advice and also to seek his help in entering the party.

Palaniswami was piqued after he was made political advisor by Panneerselvam and expelled him from the primary membership and the organisation secretary post that he had been holding since his return to the AIADMK in 2014.

Prior to that, he was with the DMDK of Vijayakanth and was even holding the post of presidium chairperson. But in 2013 he announced his retirement from politics and left the DMDK only to go back to the AIADMK during J Jayalalithaa's period.

Before joining hands with Vijaykanth, Ramachandran was with the PMK and even won an election from the Panruti constituency in a PMK ticket in 1991. Panruti has been his pocket borough since 1967 when he contested the election as a DMK nominee.

When he won his second term in 1971, he became a minister in the DMK government headed by M. Karunanidhi. Subsequently he switched loyalties to MGR and served in all his ministries till 1987.

When former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Sri Lankan President J R Jayewardane signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in 1987 at Colombo, Ramachandran was the representative of the Tamil Nadu government, signifying the importance given to him by MGR.

The expulsion of such a senior leader is an indicator of Palaniswami’s determination to not let Panneerselvam or Sasikala rejoin the party and run it with his present supporters. He is also hopeful of winning the case in the Supreme Court, whose verdict is expected on October 30.

Once the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of Panneerselvam against the Madras High Court order approving of Palaniswami’s election as interim general secretary and the conduct of the July 11 General Council meeting of the AIADMK, as he hopes, he would like to consolidate his position and become the single leader of the party.

Making his moves based on such a game plan, Palaniswami would dismiss anyone who was inimical to his becoming the singular top honcho of the AIADMK and Ramachandran faced the axe just for that faux pas of openly backing Panneerselvam.