VILLUPURAM: Acting on the orders of the Villupuram revenue divisional officer (RDO), keys to the AIADMK district office were handed over to district secretary R Pasupathi on Saturday, following which party activities resumed at the office.
After the Assembly polls, in which the AIADMK finished third, several MLAs, including former ministers C V Shanmugam and SP Velumani, opposed AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and supported the TVK government during the trust vote.
Subsequently, Shanmugam was removed from the post of Villupuram district AIADMK secretary, and R Pasupathi was appointed in his place.
A dispute arose when Pasupathi’s supporters sought to operate from the party’s district office, while Shanmugam’s supporters refused to hand over the keys.
Both factions later appeared before Villupuram RDO U Murugesan and submitted the documents related to the office.
Following the examination of the documents, the RDO found that the AIADMK district office was registered in the name of a trust administered by the party, which functioned under the general secretary’s control.
Based on the findings, Murugesan ordered that the office keys be handed over to the faction led by Palaniswami.
Accordingly, the keys were handed over to Pasupathi on Saturday morning. Following the handover, his supporters opened the office. Around 11 am, Pasupathi commenced party work.