The expulsion of senior party figure KA Sengottaiyan for bringing disrepute to the AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) was a final and binding decision, made unanimously by the party’s General Council, General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) confirmed on Saturday.
Palaniswami implied that a leader of Sengottaiyan’s seniority should not be covertly acting as the "B team" of the ruling Dravida Munntra Kazhagam, claiming the former minister had been engaged in anti-party activities for the past six months.
Palaniswami highlighted that Sengottaiyan boycotted a felicitation function organised by farmers in Annur, Coimbatore, on February 9th, which was intended to thank Palaniswami for sanctioning the Athikadavu Avinashi irrigation project while he was Chief Minister. Sengottaiyan claimed he boycotted because portraits of party leaders MGR and Jayalalithaa were absent, despite the fact that 30 per cent of the project's benefits went to his home district of Erode.
Instead, Sengottaiyan chose to attend a bicycle distribution event where photos of the late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and the current Chief Minister MK Stalin were prominently displayed. "This shows that he had started the work of the B team from that time onwards," Palaniswami said, displaying a picture of Sengottaiyan at the cycle event to back his claim.
The former minister and nine-time MLA from Gobichettipalayam was formally removed on October 31 after he made a public appearance at the Muthuramalinga Thevar's 118th birth anniversary and guru puja celebrations at Pasumpon in Ramanathapuram district alongside ousted leaders O Panneerselvam (OPS) and TTV Dhinakaran, and subsequently met with VK Sasikala.
Reiterating the absolute nature of the action, Palaniswami stressed: “It's not my decision but it's the unanimous decision of the party's general council, which expelled him for anti-party activities. This decision is final and binding.”
He further attacked Sengottaiyan for associating with OPS — who he claimed was keen on ensuring a second term for the DMK — and with other expelled figures like Sasikala, who had conferred a party post upon her nephew Dhinakaran, despite the latter being removed from the party by Jayalalithaa herself. Palaniswami concluded that Sengottaiyan had been behaving like a "local chieftain" in his own district, which is why AIADMK members were celebrating his removal.
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