It seems that AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala is not ready to give up without a fight. On a day the Supreme Court set aside the Karnataka High Court verdict acquitting her in the 19-year-old disproportionate assets case, Sasikala expelled 20 rebel leaders, including acting chief minister O Panneerselvam, Minister K Pandiarajan, and senior leader C Ponnaiyan, from the primary membership of the party, according to reports.
The apex court restored in toto the judgement and the findings of the trial court in Bengaluru which had held guilty all the accused including Sasikala's two relatives, VN Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, PTI reported. The two-judge bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy directed Sasikala and the two relatives to surrender forthwith to the trial court in Bengaluru and serve the remaining part of four year jail term.
Soon after, long-time Sasikala loyalist EK Palanisami was elected the Legislature Party Leader at the Golden Resort near Chennai where MLAs loyal to Sasikala were huddled together for the last few days.
According to the Times of India, here are the names of the sacked leaders:
- O Panneerselvam
- K Pandiarajan
- PH Pandian
- C Ponnaiyan
- Natham R Viswanathan,
- K P Munusamy,
- P Mohan,
- KA Jayapaul,
- KP Rajendra Prasad
- Parithi Ilamvazhuthi.
- E Ponnusamy,
- P H Manoj Pandian
- J C D Prabhakar
- K Thavasi,
- SK Selvam,
- K Ayyappan
- S Muthuselvi,
- KAK Mukil
- V Neelakandan
- M Muthuramalingam
(With inputs from PTI)