Chennai: AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday announced a major organisational reshuffle within the party, removing several senior leaders and sitting MLAs from their posts as district secretaries and appointing a new set of office-bearers across Tamil Nadu.

The sweeping changes come amid internal turbulence within the party following the recent political developments in Tamil Nadu and are being viewed as an attempt by the AIADMK leadership to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots level and consolidate control over district units.

Among the prominent leaders relieved of their district responsibilities are former Ministers Natham R. Viswanathan from Dindigul East, S.P. Velumani from Coimbatore Suburban South, C.Ve. Shanmugam from Villupuram, R. Kamaraj from Thiruvarur and C. Vijayabaskar from Pudukkottai North.

Other senior functionaries removed from district secretary posts include P. Thangamani in Namakkal, K.P. Anbalagan in Dharmapuri, B. Benjamin in Tiruvallur Central, Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan in Tiruppur Suburban West and S.T.K. Jakkaiyan in Theni West.

The reshuffle also affected several other district leaders, including Isakki Subbaiah, M.C. Sampath, K.C. Veeramani, M.R. Vijayabaskar, K.V. Ramalingam, P. Balakrishna Reddy and A. Arunmozhidevan, along with a number of other office-bearers across the state.

Palaniswami simultaneously announced a fresh list of district secretaries with immediate effect.

R. Pasupathi has been appointed as Villupuram district secretary, while Se. Ma. Velusamy will head Coimbatore Suburban South.

V. Palanivel has been given charge of Pudukkottai North and K.P.P. Baskar has been appointed for Namakkal district.

R.D. Moorthy, popularly known as Deshnamoorthy, has been named secretary for Thiruvarur district, while K.S. Ravichandran has been appointed for Tiruvallur Central.

In Ranipet, A.P.S. Loganathan and Sumaithangi C. Elumalai have been appointed district secretaries for the East and West units respectively.

Other newly appointed district secretaries include S. Pasupathi for Tirupathur, M.C. Damodaran for Cuddalore North, M. Ramu for Krishnagiri West, R. Manoharan for Erode City, Pala Nandhakumar for The Nilgiris and C. Karthikeyan for Trichy City.

K. Kamalakannan has been appointed secretary for Karur, V.T. Narayanasamy for Theni West and K. Ramasubramanian for Tirunelveli Suburban. In a statement, Palaniswami urged party cadre and functionaries to extend full cooperation to the newly appointed district secretaries and work towards strengthening the AIADMK organisation across the state.

(IANS)