Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the General Secretary of AIADMK J Jayalalithaa will remain the Permanent General Secretary of the party as the post has been scrapped in today’s party meet. A resolution has been passed to this effect.

VK Sasikala, who assumed the general secretary post following Jayalalithaa’s death last December, has been sacked from the party. Sasikala’s nephew, Dinakaran, who was appointed by her as the party’s deputy general secretary, has also been sacked from the party.

Henceforth, the AIADMK party will be run by Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who will serve as the Chief Coordinator and Chief Minister E Palaniswami as his assistant. The meeting ratified the appointment of Panneerselvam as the chief of the 11-member steering committee of AIADMK.

Key decisions in this regard have been taken in today’s meeting which marked a merger between the two factions led by Palaniswami and Panneerselvam, which happened last month after long negotiations.

Today’s decisions however are subject to the approval of the Madras High Court which in response to a petition of imposing a stay on the meeting, permitted the meeting to be held but said any decision by the General Council will be subject to scrutiny.

In the meeting, the AIADMK leaders also vowed to begin the fight with the Election Commission to bring back the party symbol, ‘two leaves’, which was taken away when the party split into two factions.