Dhinakaran sacks EPS from party post

“Ousted” AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran removed Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami from the post of party’s Salem district secretary on Sunday.

Palaniswami will be the 20th senior AIADMK leader to be removed from the party by Dhinakaran, who still claims that he is the party’s deputy general secretary and has the authority to dismiss or appoint the office-bearers.

In an AIADMK communique, Dhinakaran said that Palaniswami was relieved of the Salem district secretary post and he would be replaced by former Veerapandi MLA S K Selvam.

No reasons given

However, Dhinakaran, who turned rebel and has the support of only 19 MLAs, did not mention any reason for sacking Palaniswami.

In addition, sources from the rebel camp said that Dhinakaran is planning to convene the party’s general council meeting very soon.

In another development, a delegation of Opposition parties, led by the DMK, met Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and urged him to direct the Palaniswami government to seek a confidence vote and prove majority.

Senior DMK leader and deputy opposition leader of the House, Duraimurugan, who led the delegation, said the governor promised that he would take steps as per the law.

Duraimurugan claimed that Palaniswami’s government was reduced to a “minority” as it only enjoyed the support of 113 MLAs, five short of a simple majority.