AIADMK general secretary and former TN CM Palaniswami turns 69

Chennai: AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K Palaniswami celebrated his 69th birthday by cutting a gigantic 69 kg cake and distributing it to his followers in Salem in the state on Friday.

He distributed welfare assistance to about 125 auto drivers on the occasion. In Chennai, a few of his party workers ate 'mann soru' (food served directly on the floor instead of on a plate or banana leaf, in a ritual that seeks to gain favour of a deity), and prayed for his good health and return as chief minister.

Palaniswami, who served as chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 2017 to 2021, had certain differences with another former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam over the issue of dual leadership of the party, which then led to the expulsion of the latter.

EPS, as Palaniswami is also known, then established himself as the party's general secretary, much to the indignation of Panneerselvam, thus ending a brief era of dual leadership in the party post-AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa's time.