CHENNAI: The simmering internal feud in the AIADMK resurfaced on Wednesday, with a group of senior leaders led by MLAs Natham R Viswanathan and SP Velumani rejecting the new organisational posts recently assigned to them by party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.
The leaders claimed Palaniswami had earlier promised to reinstate them to their original positions but had since gone back on his word.
In a five-page letter addressed to Palaniswami, they blamed his decisions for the party's successive electoral setbacks and the exodus of office-bearers and cadre, while stating they would continue to serve only as ordinary party members instead of accepting the new posts assigned to them. Those who signed the joint statement include Natham R Viswanathan, P Thangamani, SP Velumani, KP Anbalagan, MR Vijayabaskar, KC Veeramani, A Arunmozhithevan and P Balakrishna Reddy.
Stating that the present crisis in the AIADMK was the result of Palaniswami's decision to join hands with the DMK to form the government, the leaders said, "Had you (Palaniswami) decided to function as the Opposition, such a situation would not have arisen."
The leaders said they had agreed to reunite under Palaniswami's leadership at his request, conveyed through Agri Krishnamurthy and OS Manian. Acting on his assurance, they withdrew their petition seeking the disqualification of 22 MLAs, while Palaniswami withdrew his petition against 25 MLAs.
They added that, as part of the settlement, Palaniswami had assured them that all those removed from organisational posts on May 13 would be reinstated to the same positions they had held before June 4.
The leaders further said Palaniswami had gone back on his promise and failed to reinstate them to their original posts.
They also recalled that, following the reunification of the Janaki Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa factions, those removed from party posts were reinstated to their original positions under a formal announcement by Jayalalithaa. They said the same precedent was followed when MLAs and office-bearers aligned with O Panneerselvam rejoined the AIADMK.
"However, despite Palaniswami's assurance, those removed from party posts had not been restored this time. Instead, he had made fresh appointments of his choice, while many office-bearers and cadre had left the AIADMK to join the TVK over the past 50 days," the leaders added.
After the AIADMK was pushed into third place in the Assembly elections, the party faced a revolt, with a significant section of leaders led by C Ve Shanmugam and SP Velumani openly opposing Palaniswami.
During the confidence vote on May 13, as many as 25 AIADMK MLAs from the rival camp backed the TVK government, defying the party whip to vote against it. Following this, Palaniswami initiated disqualification proceedings against them. Four of the MLAs resigned from the State Assembly and joined the ruling TVK, while two more resigned later and are set to join the TVK on Thursday.