ERODE: The AIADMK high command expelled five party members, including former SIDCO chairman Sindhu Ravichandran, attached to the Erode rural district on Friday. Sources said that the functionaries joined the DMK on Friday.
AIADMK leaders O Paneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami, in a circular, also ordered the expulsion of KR Kandasamy, former MLA and MGR Mandram joint secretary, SP Ramesh, MGR youth wing secretary, Dr VC Varadharajan, Sathiyamangalam south union secretary, and PK Kaliappan, Gobichettipalayam secretary.
Sindhu, the party’s traders wing secretary and a loyalist of former Minister K A Sengottaiyan, was denied a ticket to contest from Anthiyur. Commenting on the move, AIADMK Erode rural district president and Bhavani MLA KC Karuppannan said that the five functionaries were removed as they worked in favour of the DMK even during the elections. “Their expulsion will not cause much damage to the party.”
The members would help the DMK, which won only a handful of seats in the western region, to win the local body election. They joined the DMK in a low-key event due to the Covid-19 restrictions, they added.