AIADMK General Council approves of 'TN's Abraham Lincoln' EPS as party's CM candidate

In the latest development, AIADMK General Council passed a resolution on Saturday approving Edappadi Palaniswami to be the CM candidate for the party in the upcoming Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. The decision was taken at the party's general body meeting that was presided by party president E Madhusudhanan along with CM EPS, Dy CM O Pannerselvam and other ministers. Apart from approving EPS as the party's CM face, 30 other resolutions were passed during the key general body meeting, of which 16 resolutions were executive in nature. 

As per sources, a resolution was passed unanimously at AIADMK's general body meeting to decide on EPS as the party's CM candidate. Further, a resolution was also passed to laud TN CM EPS for announcing free vaccine for all in the state. It was also decided by the General Council that CM EPS and Dy CM OPS would discuss on the seat-sharing for the upcoming polls before making a formal announcement.

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Further, sources informed that the AIADMK General Council had passed a resolution charging DMK and its chief MK Stalin for targeting the ruling AIADMK govt and CM EPS in an 'uncivilised and undemocratic' manner and condemned the same. Another important resolution passed during the meeting was the approval and recognition of the 13-member steering committee — an important part of the conditions that were put forward by Dy CM OPS while the two factions reunited earlier. The General Council also made a plea to the Indian government to stop the cancellation of Maagaana Council in Srilanka to protect the interests of Lankan Tamils. 

During the meeting, CM Edappadi Palaniswamy was hailed as the 'Abraham Lincoln' of Tamil Nadu politics by AIADMK legislator Pollachi Jayaraman. As per sources, EPS-OPS duo was also lauded by party leaders for dedicating a Rs 79 crore memorial for ex-CM late J Jayalalithaa. Senior AIADMK leader Valarmathi claimed that the people of Tamil Nadu always wanted to bring back 'Amma's regime' and not 'Karunanidhi's and that such was the impact of AIADMK. 

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Tamil Nadu Assembly elections

Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu are due during April-May 2021 and the political parties have started their campaign. While DMK's MK Stalin is eyeing becoming Chief Minister for the first time, AIADMK has arrived at reconciliation between two warring factions - of Deputy CM O Pannerselvam (OPS) and CM E Palaniswamy (EPS). Incumbent chief minister E Palaniswamy has been named as its CM candidate and O Panneerselvam as the chief of the 11-member steering committee. On the other side, AIADMK has said that they are the big-brother within the NDA alliance. Meanwhile, Kamal Hassan is on a campaign trail and Alagiri has said that the launch of his political party will be in January. Superstar Rajinikanth who was about to launch his party this year has backed out due to health reasons. 

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