AIADMK leadership tussle reaches Supreme Court after OPS moves plea

The leadership tussle in AIADMK -- the main opposition party of Tamil Nadu -- has reached the Supreme Court with the party leader and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (OPS) moving the apex court against a September 2 judgment of the Madras High Court division bench.

Notably, a division bench of the Madras High Court comprising Justices M. Duraiswamy and Sunder Mohan had set aside a judgment of a single bench judge on August 17, nullifying the AIADMK general council meeting of July 11 in which Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) was anointed as the single general secretary.

A resolution passed by the General council of the party on July 11 had anointed EPS as the single general secretary of the party. This has led to the discarding of the dual leadership of the party.

The division bench of the Madras High Court also said that there was no possibility of OPS and EPS working jointly again and that the single bench order has led to functional deadlock in the party.

The AIADMK has been in a bitter power struggle after the drubbing it received in the 2021 Assembly elections amid blamegame in the party.

With the powerful Thevar community providing all the backup for its poster boy, O. Panneerselvam (OPS), the verdict from the Supreme Court is more important for OPS as it can either make or break his political carrier.