Chennai: In a jolt to AIADMK, supporters of former AIADMK minister C Ve Shanmugam from Villupuram district resigned from AIADMK en masse on Monday, signalling fresh trouble for the party. Shanmugam, however, has not resigned.There was tension at AIADMK headquarters when former Tindivanam MLA P Arjunan visited to submit the resignation letters of the protesting functionaries. He was heckled by the AIADMK men there for `backstabbing’ EPS. Police intervened and brought the situation under control.Shanmugam’s supporters started gathering at former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s memorial in Chennai from morning in buses from Villupuram district. They raised slogans against AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and signed resignation letters, which were handed over to Arjunan. He then then took it to the party headquarters and submitted them.Arjunan told reporters that in all 1151 functionaries and cadres resigned from their primary membership of AIADMK. He said they were protesting EPS’ leadership, blaming it for the party’s electoral setbacks.The latest protest comes days after EPS sacked 11 functionaries from Villupuram district. “They are all general council members with voting rights. They were removed to suppress dissent and reduce their presence in the general council. It is undemocratic,” a party functionary said. There were also clashes between supporters of Shanmugam and the functionaries appointed by EPS few days ago. While Shanmugam was the district secretary for a long time, he was replaced by Pasupathi, an EPS loyalist after the rebellion of 25 MLAs.AIADMK leaders from Villupuram said Shanmugam’s supporters in Cuddalore and Kallakurichi districts were also likely to resign in the coming days.Unfazed by this development, EPS chaired a review meeting with party functionaries from Madurai district. “AIADMK will bounce back like a phoenix in the coming elections,” former minister V V Rajan Chellappa said after the meeting. He also shrugged off the difference of opinion among senior leaders and said that they are all together.
