TTV Dhinakaran appointed as Deputy General Secretary of AIADMK

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], Feb. 15 (ANI): In yet another major development in Tamil Nadu's politics, TTV Dhinakaran on Wednesday was appointed as the Deputy General Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). With general secretary V.K. Sasikala standing disqualified to take over as the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu as a result of the Supreme Court verdict, the party leadership has undergone significant changes. The party leadership appointed Edapadi K. Palanisamy as the new legislative leader. Caretaker Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam was expelled from the party. Other expelled leaders include AIADMK lawmaker K. Pandiarajan, former Assembly speaker P.H. Pandian and his son P.H. Manoj Pandiyan, N. Vishvananthan and senior party leader C. Ponnaiyan, K.P. Munusamy, J.C.D. Prabhakar, former minister Parithi Elamvaluthi, Ex-MP E. Ponnusamy, V. Neelakandan, ex-MLA V. Neelankandan, ex- MLA Ko. Ayyappan, M. Muthuramalingam and S. Muthuselvi. In another development, the late AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa's niece J. Deepa joined the O. Panneerselvam camp. Earlier, both warring factions of the AIADMK met Governor Vidyasagar Rao at Raj Bhavan in Chennai after Supreme Court convicted Sasikala in the disproportionate assets case. Meanwhile, two emissaries of the Panneerselvam camp also met the Governor and stressed their case to allow his government to continue. Panneerselvam made an appeal to all the MLAs and cadres of the party to forget what he called a temporary phase of problems and pain and unitedly carry forward the 'good rule of late Jayalalithaa.' After a long huddle with her party legislators at Kuvathur, Sasikala said late last night that she cannot be separated from the AIADMK wherever she is. She is expected to surrender before the Bengaluru court by today to undergo the prison sentence. (ANI)