EPS Gets Legal Leg-Up In AIADMK Leadership Wrangle

New Delhi:

In the incessant leadership tussle in the AIADMK, the faction that wants a single leader in Edappadi K Palaniswamy or EPS – as opposed to a dual leadership system adopted after J Jayalalitha’s death – got a legal leg-up today. This is a setback for O Paneerselvam or OPS, the other leader in the AIADMK, Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party.

The Supreme Court, in its interim order today, halted the Madras High Court order that had restrained the AIADMK General Council from passing any “unannounced” resolutions. The council had plans to pass a resolution for unitary leadership under EPS. But the other leader, O Paneerselvam or OPS, had gone to the high court, which stopped any such move in an interim order on June 23. 

The Supreme Court today removed that hurdle. It said the party may continue to function as per decisions taken by the council, its highest decision-making body. It asked the OPS faction — which wants dual leadership to continue — to make its submissions in two weeks.

Both EPS and OPS are joint coordinators of the AIADMK for now, working as per a ceasefire adopted to stop infighting five years ago. The infighting had threatened to break up the party after the death of the then chief minister Jayalalitha. The party has since lost power and the infighting has got as bad as it was, if not worse.