CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday restored organisational posts to several senior leaders who had revolted against his leadership after the Assembly election defeat but stopped short of reinstating them to the influential district secretary posts they had previously held.
The move is widely seen as an attempt to strike a balance between accommodating the dissident camp and preventing them from regaining control over district units.
Former minister SP Velumani, one of the key leaders of the rebellion, has been appointed deputy general secretary. However, he was not restored as Coimbatore suburban south district secretary, a position considered crucial to his political influence.
Instead, former minister Pollachi V Jayaraman has been appointed district secretary, while Varagur A Arunachalam has replaced Velumani as Headquarters secretary. With the new appointments, AIADMK now has three deputy general secretaries KP Munusamy, Natham R Viswanathan and SP Velumani.
Similarly, former ministers MR Vijayabaskar, KC Veeramani, R Kamaraj, KP Anbazhagan and other leaders who had sided with the rebel faction have been appointed organising secretaries but were not reinstated as district secretaries.
The reshuffle follows months of internal turmoil after AIADMK's election defeat. A group of 25 MLAs led by C Ve Shanmugam and SP Velumani functioned as a separate faction and defied the party leadership by supporting the TVK government during the confidence motion in the Assembly.