‘Victory of Dharma’: AIADMK’s Palaniswami after Madras HC rejects Pannerselvam’s plea

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India]: AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami on Friday termed it a ‘victory of dharma’ after the Madras High Court dismissed pleas filed by Tamil Nadu’s former deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam seeking a stay on his expulsion from the party.

“Justice and Dharma have attained victory. MHC has recognized AIADMK General Council Resolutions. This judgement is a victory for Justice, Dharma and Truth. On our side we have justice so we got this verdict,” EPS said.

Further, he said that AIADMK will get a huge victory in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections and added that they are part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Earlier today, Justices R Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq of Madras High Court dismissed the pleas filed against a single judge’s refusal to interfere with the July 11, 2022, AIADMK general council resolution expelling OPS from the party.

Responding to the judgement Edappadi Palaniswami camp advocates said there is no more room for O Pannerselvam camp legally whereas O Pannerselvam camp said all the mentions are just interim and still original suit is before Madras High Court single bench.

“Today Honorable Division bench rendered a judgement stating AIADMK General Council (GC) resolutions are valid. AIADMK is only headed by EPS only and thus has been approved by the MHC Division Bench. We argued and our only arguement is AIADMK GC is a superior authority” said Inbadurai, Advocate of EPS camp.

Another advocate from EPS camp Babu Murugavel said, ” We have crossed so many barriers from various courts. All courts declared verdict favoring EPS and GC is valid. Now MHC has pronounced orders. To my knowledge, this is the last batlle for OPS and no other options for O Pannerselvam”.

Differing with Edappadi Palaniswami camp advocate of O Pannerselvam camp Subburathinam says OPS has more room legally and at last justice will prevail.

“Not a setback at all. Interim aplication now today verdict has been delivered. They can say we lost options it is just a layman’s opinion. We have options in the Supreme Court. Based on this we will again approach the SC. That is the way we will fight.

We still have every room legally. Original Suit is pending before Madras High Court Single Bench. These are intern applications. We will look at the original suit and upon today’s judgement and we will take to SC also” Subburathinam added.

In a General Council meeting of AIADMK held on July 11, the dual-leadership model in the AIADMK was ended and OPS was expelled from the party for “anti-party” activities during the party meeting.

In the meeting, Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) was elevated as the interim General Secretary of the party. The Election Commission of India later approved EPS as the general secretary of AIADMK.

The poll body’s decision came after the Madras High Court in March rejected applications filed by AIADMK’s expelled leader O Panneerselvam and refused to interfere with his expulsion from the party.