Another setback for EPS-OPS faction: Now, 27 MLAs skip joint meet

The EPS-OPS camp that was to decide the fate of TTV Dinakaran and Sasikala received a second blow after 27 ministers refrained from the meeting. Earlier 21 ministers had stayed away from the meeting, exposing the government's shaky base. After the Monday meeting, the united factions announced that the party general council and the executive committee will meet on September 12 as part of the protocol to remove V K Sasikala from the post of general secretary and TTV Dhinakaran as the deputy general secretary.

Naturally, Dhinakaran's supporters abstained from the meeting, but the 27 additional members who were believed to be by the EPS-OPS faction staying away came as a big shocker. However, this was not directly admitted by the party members as they were giving conflicting numbers os participating members ranging from 112 to 117. Meanwhile, it was announced that the meeting on September 12 will be chaired by party presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan at 10.35am in Vanagaram. 

The press release further said, "Following the demand from a majority of the party cadres, the general council and executive committee will be convened according to party bylaw , rule 19, section 7." The EPS-OPS camp put out another statement asking all executives, office bearers, secretaries of unions, towns and other officers to attend the meeting. The bylaws states that the general council meeting shall be convened once a year whenever it is considered necessary by the general secretary with a prior notice of 15 days. 

As rumours go by, the EPS-OPS faction is not willing to lose any time in ousting Sasikala as the post of general secretary is being disputed before the EC and SC. A senior minister, speaking to the Times of India said, "We are going by our schedule after merger. The general council meeting is the next step towards expelling Sasikala and today's resolution is a prelude to that." Meanwhile, in a move to defreeze the party name and symbol, the senior ministers and leaders left for New Delhi to meet the Election Commission officials to discuss the formalities.

In a resolution passed in the Monday meeting, the EPS-OPS camp termed the appointments made by Dhinakaran as invalid as the leader had no authority or eligibility to appoint or sack the office bearers. The EPS-OPS camp last week removed Dhinakaran from the post of party deputy general secretary, alleging that he had violated the party bylaws. The resolution said, "When the election commission has not acknowledged the temporary ap pointment of Sasikala, her decision to appoint Dhinakaran as deputy general secretary and his actions violate party bylaws." In another resolution, it was decided to take legal action against party mouthpiece Namadhu MGR, and Jaya TV. It said, "They are properties of the party , floated with the untiring efforts of Amma and with the contributions from lakhs of cadres." The organisations are under the control of Sasikala, after the demise of Jayalalithaa. Meanwhile, Jaya TV CEO, Vivek Jayaraman condemned the move. Now jailed in Bengaluru prison, along with Sasikala, he said that these are private organisations and no one could take over them.

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