Chennai: Bottles thrown at O Panneerselvam during AIADMK General Council meeting to discuss 'one-leader' call

Chennai: A shocking video surfaced on the internet that showed bottles thrown at former Tamil Nadu CM O Panneerselvam during the AIADMK General Council meeting in Chennai on Thursday. O Panneerselvam walked out of the General Council meeting minutes before it concluded. Notably, the AIADMK General Council meeting was held today to decide on the 'one-leader' approach.

The meeting, which began amidst chaotic sloganeering, was unsuccessful in adopting a resolution for a singular leadership rejecting all 23 draft resolutions O Panneerselvam had agreed to. Last week, O Panneerselvam had opposed the 'single leader' demand and said that it was not the right time for the plan of action, while K Palaniswami had pushed the resolution for singular leadership.

Supporters of both leaders shouted slogans at each other during the meeting. Meanwhile, senior leaders of the party backed the demand for 'single leadership' by Palaniswami.

The meeting took place hours after the Madras High Court restrained the AIADMK General Council from taking a decision on the 'singular leadership' resolution pushed by Palaniswami. The court noted the party's decision-making body only has the option of adopting the 23 resolutions already listed.

A tussle between supporters of O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami for their individual leaders to be recognised as the single leader of the party has been going on for quite some time.

Ever since the Following the demise of Jayalalithaa in 2016, the party has been operating a dual-leadership system with EPS as co-coordinator and OPS as coordinator.

Following dissents from within the party over the same, it was decided to call the general council meeting on June 23. Last week, O Panneerselvam opposed the 'single leader' demand and said that it was not the right time for the plan of action.