The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday expelled 117 members of the Sivaganga district unit, including former MLAs KK Umadevan and Cholan CT Palanichamy, for bringing the party into “disrepute”, PTI reported.
The members were expelled as they went against party principles, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and Chief Minister and co-coordinator Edappadi Palaniswami said. The two on January 26 had removed from the party 53 leaders from its Kancheepuram Central Unit and five members from its trade union, the Anna Thozhirsanga Peravai.
Panneerselvam and Palaniswami on Monday also launched a membership drive ahead of a meeting of the party’s district secretaries on February 2 to discuss how to fill up the posts left vacant after these expulsions.
Panneerselvam and Palaniswami had merged their factions in August 2017. They had vowed to penalise those who had acted against the party after the AIADMK lost in the RK Nagar bye-poll held in December 2017. Ousted party leader TTV Dinakaran won the election in the constituency, which was represented by former party chief and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa before she died in 2016.
In December 2017, the chief minister and his deputy had expelled 53 party functionaries who were considered loyal to Dinakaran.
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