CHENNAI: The AIADMK general council meeting on Sunday set the ball rolling for the impending local body elections as a warm-up exercise to 2021 Assembly elections.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam stressed on the need to choose the right candidates for local body elections to steer the party towards a massive victory.
THE AIADMK general council meeting on Sunday set the ball rolling for the impending local body elections as a warm-up exercise to the 2021 Assembly elections.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam stressed on the need to choose the right candidates for local body elections to steer the party towards a massive victory, saying this would be the precursor to 2021 Assembly elections.
The council, which met after more than two years, also decided to focus on grassroots-level workers and evolve a strategy to attract youth into the party fold, a mobilisation drive that had been launched by late leader, J Jayalalithaa. The leaders also reiterated that former AIADMK general secretary, VK Sasikala, and her family members would not be readmitted to the party.
While Electricity Minister P Thangamani hailed the achievements of the Chief Minister, deputy coordinator of the party, K.P. Munusamy, underscored the importance of collective leadership.
Palaniswami, in his 45-minute-speech, recalled the welfare schemes of the State government and said the people voted differently in elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assembly. He charged that DMK president M.K. Stalin had no guts to oppose the AIADMK directly and, therefore, instigated many agitations against the government during the past three years. But this government had managed to stave them all off, he said.
“TTV Dhinakaran has called us betrayers. We all know well who the real betrayers of the party are. We all have fully realised that how much trials and tribulations the party had faced in the hands of a single family. The AMMK is yet to be recognised by the Election Commission. But even then, it is melting like salt in the ocean and many of those who had drifted are coming back to the AIADMK.”
Pointing out that winning local body elections were not as easy as winning Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Palaniswami requested the district-level functionaries to choose the right candidates who would serve the people as local body functionaries so that the AIADMK could register 100 per cent win. He also said there were efforts to stall the local body elections, but it would happen for sure. Panneerselvam said people had realized the false information unleashed by the DMK during the Lok Sabha elections and this had its echo in the by-elections to Vikravandi and Nanguneri Assembly constituencies. “Now, Stalin is afraid of facing the local body elections as he fears that the people’s mood is against his party,” Panneerselvam added.
Panneerselvam, in an obvious reference to Rajnikanth’s statement, said there was no vacuum in political leadership in the state. He, however, did not name the actor.
He also recalled the numerous welfare schemes being implemented for the people of the State.