Chennai: The late Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa’s long-time aide and confidante V.K. Sasikala will be removed as “interim” general secretary of the AIADMK at the much-awaited general council scheduled here on Tuesday. A steering committee, to be headed by Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, is also expected to be appointed at the meeting.
Three resolutions —sacking Sasikala from the post to which she was appointed in December 2016 immediately after the death of Jayalalithaa, ratifying the merger of rival EPS and OPS factions and appointing a steering committee to run the affairs of the party till a “full-time” general secretary is appointed — are expected to be moved at the meeting and may be passed unanimously.
Decks for the conduct of general council were cleared by the Madras High Court late on Monday night as it dismissed a petition filed by T.T.V. Dhinakaran supporter and Perambur MLA P. Vetrivel who demanded a stay on the meeting expected to be attended by a majority of 2,780 members. Besides MPs and MLAs, headquarter secretaries will participate in the council meeting as “special invitees” and an almost full attendance is expected.
As the EPS-OPS faction fear supporters of the Sasikala family would create trouble at the venue — Sri Varu Venkatachalapathy Palace — more than a hundred “private security personnel” have been deployed, besides heavy presence of police personnel.
“The main agenda of the meeting is to remove Sasikala from the post of interim general secretary and from the party since it was one of the major pre-conditions set by O. Panneerselvam for merging his faction with EPS camp,” a senior leader told DC.
