CHENNAI: The AIADMK is gearing up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and as part of the preparations, party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has convened a meeting of district secretaries on Wednesday.
The meeting is expected to take stock of the results of the Karnataka Assembly elections where sizeable Tamil population lives in many pockets. Sources said one of the key issues to be discussed is the progress made in the ongoing party membership drive aimed at increasing the total number of members from 1.5 crore to 2 crore since the ruling DMK is also taking steps to achieve that target by the end of this month.
Strengthening booth committees to face the Lok Sabha elections is another topic that assumes importance. Palaniswami has already said that each booth would have a women’s wing and a youth brigade.
Following Palaniswami’s announcement that a state-level conference of AIADMK would be held in Madurai in August, former senior ministers have zeroed in on the place where the event could be held. Since Palaniswami had said the conference would be a cynosure of all eyes, the district secretaries are likely to pay more attention to all arrangements required for the event.
According to sources, Palaniswami is likely to visit most of the districts in a bid to reach out to the public and boost the morale of AIADMK cadre ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The AIADMK is also planning a demonstration against the DMK-led state government in connection with the hooch tragedy.
ECI had, a month ago, recognised Palaniswami as general secretary of the AIADMK and approved amendments made to bylaws of the party. Following this, Palaniswami and his senior colleagues called on BJP’s election strategist and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi and after this meeting, the ties between the two parties are getting normalised, sources said.