AIADMK factions fight over legislature party leader post | India News
Chennai: AIADMK The 17th Tamil Nadu Assembly seems headed for a vertical split with rival parties claiming the post of Legislative Party Leader.AIADMK General Secretary Dr Edappadi K Palaniswami Pro-tem Speaker submitted a letter seeking recognition of MV Karupaiah as Legislative Party Leader and Thalabhai Sundaram as Party Whip. Later, the party led by CV Shanmugam and SP Velumani submitted separate representations to the pro-tem speaker to recognize Velumani as the legislative party leader and C Vijayabaskar as the whip. AIADMK sources said that the Velumani-Shanmugam camp is trying to secure the support of at least 32 MLAs to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law to ally with TVK. “There are plans to remove Edappadi K Palaniswami as general secretary,” a source said. Sources in the secretariat said the EPS party currently enjoys the support of around 20 of the 47 AIADMK MLAs, while the Velumani-Shanmugam camp has the support of most of the rest. Despite favoring the rebels in numbers, officials hinted that EPS may still have an advantage as he is the party’s general secretary. “Palaniswamy argued before the pro-tem speaker that, as AIADMK general secretary, he alone was authorized to act as the leader of the legislative party and party rules supported his claim,” sources said.“The rival camp, however, countered by insisting that the AIADMK can elect the leader only in a formal meeting of MLAs. They submitted signatures of around 30 MLAs supporting Velumoni.” Given the competing demands and the potential for legal and political complications, sources said the speaker pro-tem is unlikely to make an immediate decision. The Palaniswami team consists of Agri S Krishnamurthy, OS Manian, Thalabhai Sundaram and KC Karuppannan. The rival block has the support of Natham R Viswanathan, R Kamaraj, KC Veeramani and Balakrishna Reddy. The latest crisis marks the third major split in the AIADMK’s history. The first followed the death of former chief minister MG Ramachandran in 1987, when the party split under the leadership of his widow Janaki Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa. A second major split followed Jayalalithaa’s death, when the former chief minister and Panneerselvam rebelled in 2017 before being expelled from the party in 2022.
