Amidst a debate over the efficacy of the “dual leadership” in the AIADMK after its recent Lok Sabha poll debacle, the party on Sunday gagged its members from publicly commenting on leadership and called for a meeting of its top functionaries on June 12 in Chennai.
On Sunday, AIADMK Perambalur district secretary and Kunnam MLA R. T. Ramachandran endorsed Madurai North legislator V.V. Rajan Chellappa’s demand for having a unitary leadership in the party.
On Saturday, Mr. Chellappa had opposed the party’s dual leadership — Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam as coordinator and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami as co-coordinator.
However, Ministers Dindigul C. Sreenivasan and M. Manikandan and senior legislator S. Semmalai defended the dual leadership in the party on Sunday.
Seeking to put an end to such public dissection about the pros and cons of dual leadership and other aspects, Mr. Panneerselvam and Mr. Palaniswami issued a joint statement calling for restraint. Stating that the AIADMK’s functioning has been to the satisfaction of the ordinary cadre, they asked the party functionaries to refrain from making public comments on leadership, party affairs and on the results of the general elections.
In another statement, the two leaders convened a meeting of Ministers, party district secretaries, MLAs, MPs and spokespersons at the party headquarters on June 12.
“The comments by some of our party brethren through the media, over party leadership and how the future course should be are not desirable,” they said in the statement. They added that though partymen were making comments only due to their affinity and commitment to the party, “it is necessary to be conscious of the circumstances.”
The comments made by partymen should not help those who were working against the interests of the AIADMK, the leaders said while calling for maintaining discipline. “Do remember that there is time and place in the form of general body meeting and executive council meeting and others meetings for those wanting to make any comment for the development of our party,” they said.
Meanwhile, BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan refused to comment on the debate over a unitary versus dual leadership in the AIADMK. Nonetheless, she said that under current circumstances, the AIADMK government is stable and in the recently concluded bypolls, people voted for the State government to continue. “When the State government continues in a stable manner, many of Central schemes can come to Tamil Nadu. So it is better for them [AIADMK leaders] to ensure that there is no confusion in their party,” she said.
