CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has stripped the posts of 43 functionaries from the party's Erode Rural West district.
In a statement here, Palaniswami said all these functionaries have been divested of their party posts with effect from Monday. However, Palaniswami did not attribute any reason for this action.
On 5 September, senior AIADMK leader KA Sengottaiyan set a 10-day deadline for Palaniswami to initiate the process for readmitting those who had drifted away from the AIADMK into the party fold again.
Following this, Palaniswami stripped Sengottaiyan and many others of their party posts, stopping just short of expelling them from the party. In protest, a host of AIADMK cadres and office-bearers submitted their resignations from party posts.
After this, Sengottaiyan met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi and discussed the importance of bringing back all those who had drifted away from the AIADMK into the party fold again. However, there was no confirmation of these meetings from the offices of either BJP leader.
A week later, Palaniswami called on Amit Shah in New Delhi. Following this, Sengottaiyan visited Chennai a few days ago, and there were reports that he met AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam separately. However, Sengottaiyan denied these reports.
Palaniswami also appointed former Minister AK Selvaraj as in charge of the Erode Rural West district. On 23 September, Palaniswami visited the Erode Rural West district, where he was given a warm welcome by the AIADMK cadre.
Following these developments, Palaniswami stripped a considerable number of functionaries of their party posts from the Erode Rural West district, for which Sengottaiyan was the secretary until 5 September. This action is being considered a warning to the rest of the office-bearers in that district.