Chennai, Nov 9 The opposition AIADMK is on a sticky wicket in Tamil Nadu after the silence of the party interim general secretary and former Chief Minister, K. Palaniswami on the Supreme Court upholding the reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) which is a major political and social issue in the state.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has called a meeting of legislative party leaders on November 12 to discuss the future course of action to be adopted by the state in connection with the Supreme Court upholding the validity of the constitutional amendment providing 10 per cent reservation for EWS among the forward castes.
The meeting is to be held at the secretariat at 10. 30 a.m. on Saturday.
The AIADMK had walked out from both Houses of Parliament when the Bill was introduced in 2019. The then AIADMK member of the Rajya Sabha, Navaneethakrishnan had said that the 10 per cent EWS quota did not have proper quantifiable data and had walked out of the house.
In a similar vein, the AIADMK leader in the Lok Sabha, M. Thambidurai had said that the EWS quota for general category would create confusion and that it may not be implemented properly. He also said that EWS would lead to corruption also.
A senior leader of the AIADMK while speaking to on conditions of anonymity said that the party will have to strongly oppose the EWS as this had been its political line. He said, "EPS is keeping a studied silence and it will not do good for the party. We hope that the party would bring out a statement clearing the misconceptions as the Dravidian base of the party would be lost if it is not acting proactively."
However deposed leader of the AIADMK and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, O. Panneerselvam told mediapersons that the state government must go for an appeal.
It has to be seen how the politics of AIADMK will evolve in the days to come and whether the present division in the party could move further or whether both factions would align together.
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