The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)'s dominant Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) faction on Friday, 24 June, asserted that the system of dual leadership, that vested powers on Coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS) and Joint Coordinator EPS ceased to be in force, a day after the General Council stood firm on the single leadership demand.
Amendments related to top two party posts made to party by-laws on 1 December, 2021 were not ratified by the General Council which met on 23 June, 2022, senior leader and EPS loyalist, C V Shanmugam said.
Last year, by-laws were tweaked to retain and further strengthen the dual system of leadership, favouring OPS and EPS.
After the by-laws were amended, OPS and EPS were declared elected unopposed as Coordinator and Co-Coordinator.
Such amendments made it mandatory that the nominees to the two top posts of Coordinator and Joint Coordinator should be elected by the party's primary members through a single vote, Shanmugam told reporters.
However, since these amendments related to the top two party posts were not recognised and endorsed by the General Council on Thursday, these top two positions have now become defunct, he said. Hence, OPS is no longer the Coordinator and EPS ceases to be the Joint-Coordinator.
The duo continue to hold on to their other posts of Treasurer (OPS) and Headquarters Secretary (EPS) only, Shanmugam, a former Law Minister said extensively quoting from the party's rule book.
The assertion makes it clear that the EPS faction is determined to move forward and make EPS the numero uno, supreme leader on 11 July, when the General Council is scheduled to meet again.
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