A day after the Theni district unit of the AIADMK adopted a resolution to readmit V.K. Sasikala and T.T.V. Dhinakaran into the party, the Edappadi K. Palaniswami camp on Thursday reached out to the AIADMK coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, to put brakes on the decision.
A source said former Minister from the south R. B. Udhayakumar and a few other leaders had a closed door meeting with Mr. Panneerselvam for over three hours in Theni. Former MP Parthiban, Theni AIADMK district secretary Syed Khan, Murthypandian from Vasudevanallur in Tenkasi district, and Namadhu Amma editor Marudu Alaguraj were among those who attended the meeting at Mr. Panneerselvam’s farmhouse.
The AIADMK coordinator, who interacts with journalists regularly, refused to take questions on Thursday. However, he said, “Give me sometime, I will address a press conference soon,” and left for Bodinayakkanur with his followers.
An insider and a loyalist of Mr. Panneerselvam told The Hindu that at the end of the meeting, the members who were present suggested that in the larger interest of the AIADMK and its huge cadre, whatever be the issue, it shall be discussed and jointly made public by Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam through a statement or a media conference.
Listening to their views, Mr. Panneerselvam is understood to have shared with them that he had told the functionaries at the meeting held on Wednesday that he would carry the message (resolution to readmit Sasikala and Dhinakaran) to the ‘high command’. He had also reportedly stressed that the AIADMK’s strength was its cadre base. Hence, their suggestions and criticisms should be taken in the right perspective.
An AIADMK functionary, who attended the meeting, claimed that at the end, Mr. Panneerselvam had a telephonic conversation with Mr. Palaniswami after the members suggestion and that both had agreed to meet soon and sort out issues.
Sources in the camps of the two top leaders hinted that Mr. Panneerselvam had explained to Mr. Palaniswami that he had nothing to with the resolution, which was adopted by the Theni unit functionaries “on their own”.
A source said Wednesday’s development had “pre-empted” any move on the part of the Palaniswami camp to adopt resolutions demanding unitary leadership in the AIADMK. A former minister in a northern district recalled that last year, most of the party district units had adopted resolutions against Ms. Sasikala’s re-entry. Only Theni and Thanjavur district units did not follow suit.
With inputs from T. Ramakrishnan in Chennai
