AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran.
Sidelined AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran on Sunday stepped up his fight against the ruling faction by removing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswami from the post of Salem district secretary.
Dinakaran, who is the nephew of jailed leader V K Sasikala, in a press release, announced his decision to sack Palaniswami from the position effective from Sunday. There was, however, no mention of whether Palaniswami will continue to hold the position of the party’s headquarters secretary.
Dinakaran said that the position will be taken up by former MLA and Salem suburban district secretary, S K Selvam. “Party cadres are asked to extend their cooperation to Selvam,” he said. He also added that the decision was made with the “approval” of Sasikala.
The AIADMK leader has sacked several party functionaries in recent days since last week’s merger between the two rival factions of AIADMK, and is replacing them with his supporters. On Friday, Dinakaran had relieved Government Chief Whip S Rajendran from the post of Arivalur District Secretary. Few days ago, Rajendran had written a letter to Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal, seeking to take action against 19 MLAs who are loyal to Dinakaran. After the merger, the MLAs met with Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao at his residence in Chennai to express their lack of confidence in Palaniswami.
The ruling faction has been maintaining that Dinakaran does not possess the power to make changes in the party. After the merger, the two factions had announced that they would take steps to expel Sasikala and Dinakaran from the party. Dinakaran has been sidelined by the party since April after he was arrested for allegedly bribing Election Commission officials to acquire the party’s “two leaves” symbol.
(With inputs from PTI)
