In a major boost to the ruling AIADMK faction's efforts to oust interim general secretary and her nephew-deputy from the party, the High Court of Madras rejected a plea by a dissenter MLA against convening the general council meeting on Tuesday.
The agenda on the council meet is to 'discuss the present state of affairs', an ambiguous description of the actual plan of action - ousting interim general secretary VK Sasikala and thus her nephew and deputy, TTV Dhinakaran whom she appointed just hours before leaving for Bengaluru to undergo the prison sentence.
When the petition from P Vetrivel MLA, a staunch TTV loyalist, came up for hearing on Monday morning, Justice CV Karthikeyan dismissed the civil suit, and also imposed a cost of Rs. 1 lakh on him for filing a vexatious suit.
The faction of dissenters were hoping to buy time with the petition, which didn't materialise. This has essentially given the green signal to the merged entity led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and deputy CM O Panneerselvam, to go ahead with the general council meeting.