CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has permitted former chief minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) and his then supporters to withdraw the civil suits they had filed over the internal disputes of the AIADMK emanating from the organisational changes and amending the bylaws to bring back the post of general secretary, which was abolished after the demise of AIADMK supremo and late CM J Jayalalithaa.
Recording the memos filed by lawyers representing OPS, R Vaithilingam, P H Manoj Pandian and J C D Prabhakar, Justice K Kumaresh Babu permitted them to withdraw the suits.
The judge also permitted AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami to withdraw the suit he filed in 2023 seeking to injunct OPS and his supporters, who were expelled from the party then, from using the party’s name, flag and symbol.
The withdrawal of the civil suits marks the end of a bitter legal fight OPS and EPS faction had waged since 2022.
The root of the issue was the decision of EPS to abolish the posts of coordinator and co-coordinator in the party and restore the post of general secretary. To get the stamp of approval for these changes, the party’s general council meeting was called on June 23, 2022. OPS approached the high court with a plea against this meeting, but it was turned down by a single judge. On a midnight hearing of an appeal, a division bench imposed a condition that none other than the pre-approved resolutions should be passed in the meeting. OPS’s attempts to obtain an injunction to the July 11, 2022, general council meeting too ended in failure. The meeting went ahead and elected EPS as general secretary.
OPS, Vaithilingam and Manoj Pandian joined the DMK and were elected as MLAs in the recent Assembly polls, while J C D Prabhakar, a veteran leader with close links to AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran then, joined the TVK and became speaker of the TN Assembly.