ECI recgonises EPS as AIADMK general secretary
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami received a shot in the arm after the Election Commission of India (ECI) formally recognised him as the party leader and uploaded the list of office-bearers on its website, on Tuesday.
In yet another political victory in the bitter battle for the party reins, Palaniswami also received an invitation from senior leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take part in the meeting of the BJP-led NDA in Delhi on July 18.
Later in the day, armed with the ECI’s recognition as the leader of the AIADMK, Palaniswami issued an open call to dissident leaders and cadres to return to the party fold after tendering a letter of apology in person to the general secretary.
Welcoming the ECI move to recognise the faction and its general secretary as the official party and leader, respectively, former minister and senior leader RB Udhayakumar said Palaniswami would announce the decision on attending the NDA meeting.
Even while admitting that party functionaries have different opinions on continuing with the alliance, Udhayakumar said, “This cannot be disclosed at this point in time.” Poonga Nagar Selvam, the joint secretary of North Chennai district unit, said Palaniswami wanted to go solo in the coming general elections as was done by party founder MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa.
“He is not very keen on allying with the BJP as he wants to make the party the single-largest party. However, due to certain compulsion from senior functionaries, he is likely to continue in the alliance,” he claimed.