Express News Service
CHENNAI: Hours after AIADMK spokesperson K C Palanisamy announced that the party MPs would support the no-confidence motion against the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre if it failed to form the CMB as stipulated by the Supreme Court, party coordinator O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami expelled him from the primary membership of the party.
In a joint statement, Panneerselvam and Palaniswami said since Palanisamy had brought disrepute to the AIADMK by acting against the principles and ideologies of the party, he has been expelled.
Reacting sharply to the action taken against him, Palanisamy told Express that “if they are conducting party affairs in a democratic manner, they should have first sought my explanation before taking action against me.” “They should explain where I violated the principles and ideologies of the party,” Palanisamy said.
“O Panneerselvam may be afraid of Prime Minister Narendra Modi... But I do not have any such compulsions and I do not need to be afraid of Panneerselvam and Palaniswami. I was introduced to the party by its founder M G Ramachandran and nurtured by J Jayalalithaa,” Palanisamy added.
“The Election Commission is yet to approve Panneerselvam and Palaniswami as coordinator and joint coordinator of the AIADMK. I will release the copies of an RTI reply from the EC in this regard to the media on Saturday morning,” he added.
K C Palanisamy (60), hailing from Kangeyam in Tirupur district, has been a long-time member of the AIADMK since the period of party founder M G Ramachandran. He entered politics at a young age. In 1984, he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly at the age of 25. He is still considered as one of the politicians elected as an MLA at a very young age. He has been elected twice representing the AIADMK, once as a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and once as a member of Parliament in the ninth Lok Sabha. He currently lives in Coimbatore.
Just after Palanisamy made the remark on Friday, Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha and senior AIADMK leader said any decision to back the no-confidence motion against the NDA government should be taken by the party leadership. Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar and party spokesperson Vaigai Selvan too echoed similar views.
