AIADMK’s veteran leader and former Minister Panruti S. Ramachandran, was on Tuesday expelled from the party.
This was announced by the party’s interim general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami in a release that the action had been taken against Mr. Ramachandran, who had been functioning “against the party discipline” and in a manner that brought “disrepute” to the party.
So far, Mr. Ramachandran was one of the organisation secretaries of AIADMK.
The expulsion came as no surprise as Mr. Ramachandran had been publicly criticising Mr. Palaniswami’s handling of the party affairs and had been holding him responsible for the electoral setbacks suffered by the AIADMK since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. At a rally in Chengalpattu on September 16, the latter said he did not require the advice of Mr. Ramachandran, who was a “party hopper”.
Earlier in the day, O. Panneerselvam, the deposed coordinator of the party and who still considers himself “coordinator,” announced that the veteran leader had been made “political advisor of the AIADMK.” This was preceded by a couple of meetings between the two leaders over the weeks. In July end, the former interim general secretary. V.K. Sasikala too met the AIADMK’s veteran.
Mr. Ramachandran, who served as Minister for Transport and Local Administration in the DMK Ministry (1971-76) headed by M. Karunanidhi, and as Minister for Public Works, Electricity and Food in the AIADMK regime (1977-87) headed by M.G. Ramachandran, returned to the AIADMK in February 2014.
In the intervening period, he was a member of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), besides running a party of his own. During the period of May 2011 -December 2013, he was the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Assembly as a representative of the DMDK.
