Team EPS boos out OPS, set to snatch ADMK reins

CHENNAI: Neither a wee-hour judicial order nor a walkout by the O Panneerselvam faction could stop the Edappadi K Palaniswami brigade from bulldozing its way towards its single-leadership agenda at the AIADMK general council meeting on Thursday. EPS has not yet been coronated, but the message to OPS was clear: You've just delayed the inevitable.
Restrained by the Madras HC from passing any resolution to amend the party bylaws, EPS supporter C Ve Shanmugam read out a letter signed by 2,190 members of the general council demanding single leadership. When the newly appointed presidium chairman A Tamil Mahan Hussain announced that the party would convene another meeting of the general council on July 11, there was thunderous applause.
EPS supporters booed at OPS throughout the 45-minute session, and the former CM, along with supporters including deputy coordinator Vathilingam walked out in protest. Some of the delegates threw water bottles that landed close to OPS as he was walking out of the podium without presenting the annual accounts. Though 23 non-contentious resolutions were on the agenda, the meeting did not take up any of them.
In the letter, members said the party suffered setbacks, difficulties and administrative issues under the dual leadership; it also highlighted the party's inability to oppose the DMK and the government. "The cadres are also tired of the dual leadership's contradictory, unclear and non-cooperative functioning. If the party has to work for people for over 100 years as envisioned by Amma (J Jayalalithaa), there is a need for a strong, brave and clear single leader like that of Puratchi Thalaivar MGR and Puratchi Thalaivi Amma," said Shanmugam, who presented the letter to Hussain in the presence of Panneerselvam and Palaniswami on the dais.