AIADMK leaders want Dhinakaran, Sasikala brought back into the party

Refusing to accept the new posts given to them in the AIADMK, leaders including C.Ve. Shanmugam, Natham R. Viswanathan, S.P. Velumani, and K.P. Anbalagan, said they would fall in line with party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami only after he agreed to listen to their demands.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Velumani said they had already urged Mr. Palaniswami to convene a meeting to discuss threadbare the reasons for the defeat in the elections. “We still have not reached any accord on that, and we have not accepted the posts given to us,” he said.

The AIADMK, they said, should readmit T.T.V. Dhinakaran, V.K. Sasikala, and others into the party, which alone would give a fillip to the cadre. Unity within the party was mandatory, especially, in the present day context, they said and added that the party could no longer afford to lose elections. To achieve this, the high command should listen to the views of others and take everyone back into the organisation, they contended.

Without mentioning Mr. Palaniswami’s name, the leaders said that if the lost sheen of the party was to be brought back, the high command should change its attitude. “We know very well that losing or winning an election is common for a political party, but the leader should convene a meeting and discuss the reasons for the defeat,” they said.

Mr. Viswanathan said that after the demise of Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK had 134 members in the Assembly. It had fallen to third place in terms of its representation in Assembly today. “We are only apprehensive about the organisation and its future,” he clarified. The leaders were in Palani to participate in the opening of the MLA office.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Velumani garlanded the statue of Dheeran Chinnamalai statue on the occasion of the freedom fighter’s death anniversary in Erode as directed by the party high command.

Thangamani’s return

AIADMK senior leader and former Minister P. Thangamani, who was not active in party activities for the past two months, on Monday participated in the event held to mark Dheeran Chinnamalai’s death anniversary and paid floral tributes on behalf of the AIADMK in Salem. He was a part of the faction that supported the TVK-led government.

Mr. Palaniswami had recently announced that Mr. Thangamani was assigned to pay a floral tributes to Dheeran Chinnamalai at Sankari in the Salem district on behalf of the AIADMK. Based on the announcement, Mr. Thangamani, along with former Minister Saroja, MLAs Vettrivel, Usharani, Venkatachalam, Nallathambi, and other AIADMK functionaries participated in the event.

When contacted, Mr. Thangamani was not available for comments.