CHENNAI: Leader of Opposition and interim general secretary of AIADMK Edappadi K Palaniswami along with senior leaders and functionaries in his camp celebrated the 75th birth anniversary of late party supremo J Jayalalithaa at the party headquarters on Friday.

The event has been celebrated with zeal and reflects their mood after the Supreme Court passed an order validating the party’s general council meeting held July 11 last year. It was a significant one in the long legal battle with EPS bete noire O Panneerselvam over the dual leadership. EPS, after paying floral tribute to the portrait of the leader at his residence, reached the party HQ amidst growing chorus of “EPS, the permanent general secretary of the party.”

He cut a 75 kg cake to mark the celebration and garlanded the leader’s statue at the party office.

A few kilometers away, OPS celebrated the leader’s birth anniversary with a handful of his supporters by garlanding her statue on the premises of the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education. Flanked by MLAs R Vaithlingam, PH Manoj Pandian, and P Ayyappan. The mood was sombre, which is understandable, in the wake of the SC’s Thursday verdict.

The celebrations were in stark contrast to the birth anniversary of the former CM last year when both EPS and OPS celebrated together and exhibited bonhomie among them, sending across the message that they have perfect chemistry to take forward the party legacy. But, things have changed quickly following the defeat of the party in the 2021 poll and the undercurrent against the dual leadership.

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