The ruling AIADMK’s general council will meet in Chennai’s suburb today ahead of the Assembly election. There is talk of a likely impact on the party due to the expected release of former interim general secretary V.K. Sasikala from a Bengaluru prison later this month.
However, several functionaries of the party said the Sasikala factor is unlikely to figure in the meeting. The general council is expected to authorise Chief Minister and AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister and party coordinator O. Panneerselvam to decide the seat-sharing arrangements with other parties during the Assembly election.
Some of them refer to the recent “authoritative statement” of the Chief Minister that Ms. Sasikala’s release will not have any impact on the party.
Not many are expecting a rapprochement between the camp of the present leadership and that of Ms. Sasikala any time soon. But a senior office-bearer said there was a possibility of the former Chief Minister’s aide backing the idea of the AIADMK and the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) working together to defeat the “common enemy” – the DMK – in the election.
Another ruling party office-bearer said there was a perception in the party that the AMMK had toned down its criticism of the Union government in recent times.
Around 4,500 people have been invited to the meeting. About 2,300 members of the general council and 320 members of the executive are among the invitees. In addition, a large number of office-bearers of rural local bodies and various associate bodies, all called special invitees, are expected to attend the meeting.
‘No fireworks likely’
Apart from resolutions on a host of matters, key office-bearers, including deputy co-ordinators K.P. Munusamy and R. Vathilingam, are expected to address the meeting of the general council. “No fireworks are likely. We expect it to be a smooth meeting,” the office-bearers said, and added that the council may ratify the nomination of Mr. Palaniswami as the Chief Minister candidate and the constitution of the 11-member steering committee.
The previous meeting of the council took place in November 2019 when the party amended bylaws on the eligibility of candidates for contesting in the organisational poll for posts, including that of coordinator and co-coordinator. The stipulation of “uninterrupted duration of membership” for five years was reiterated.
