Edappadi Palanisamy rules out Cabinet reshuffle; calls for district secretaries meet

Talking to reporters after inaugurating the flower show at Yercaud, the Chief Minister said that only the media was carrying speculative reports of possible inclusion of three MLAs into his Cabinet and ruled out any such move. To a question on the status of talks for merger of the two groups of the AIADMK, Palanisamy exuded confidence of both the factions merging. 

Regarding his meeting with a select group of AIADMK MLAs at the Secretariat a couple of days ago, he said that they met him to discuss issues regarding their constituencies. When his attention was drawn to the objections raised by some political parties to the unveiling of the portrait of the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the Assembly complex, Palanisamy said, “Objection is different and unveiling it as per law is another thing.” “As per law, we will unveil Jayalalithaa’s portrait on the Assembly premises,” he added.

Meanwhile, in a major move, which might be an indication of of his control over the party, the CM has called the district secretaries belonging to the AIADMK (Amma) for a meeting at the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai on Monday to discuss various issues, including the retrieval of the party’s ‘Two Leaves’ symbol. 

Contrary to the usual practice of the meeting being convened by the presidium chairman KA Sengottaiyan, this time, the meeting has been called by the Chief Minister himself. Party sources revealed that the 50-odd district secretaries have been orally instructed to attend Monday’s meeting without fail. As this is the first meeting after EPS completed 100 days in office, the issue of highlighting the achievements of the government through public and street corner meetings is expected to be taken up. 

Celebrating party founder MGR’s birth centenary on a grand scale in state by distributing government welfare measures is also expected to come up in the meeting.