An embargo issued by the AIADMK on Thursday night on former functionaries from publicising their previous positions in the party has triggered the talk whether the decision is targeted at former Local Administration Minister S.P. Velumani and his supporters who have returned to the party.

In a chat with The Hindu on Friday morning, M. Dhanapal, AIADMK  Member of the Rajya Sabha and an emerging face of the camp headed by general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, said the purpose of the communication was to eliminate “any scope for confusion” among the party cadre and the people about the status of those who had been relieved of their posts so that no advertisements were issued by the former functionaries or their associates, mentioning their earlier positions. Else, sections of the cadre would get an impression that the former functionaries remained in their posts. “The communication is a pre-emptive move,” he said.

On May 13, during the passage of the trust motion in the Assembly, 25 rebel MLAs, headed by Mr. Velumani, voted in favour of the Tamilaga  Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), while 22 MLAs, headed by Mr. Palaniswami, voted against. Consequently, Mr. Palaniswami relieved 29 district secretaries of their posts and replaced them with new office-bearers. Both groups submitted petitions to Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar  against each other for initiating disqualification proceedings.

On May 27, they arrived at a truce and withdrew their petitions. In the meantime, one of the ousted district secretaries, K.V. Ramalingam, who was the Public Works Minister in Jayalalithaa’s Cabinet and in charge of Erode city till recently, had crossed over to the TVK.

Acknowledging that the embargo, issued in a press release, was possibly the first such instance, Mr. Dhanapal, however, dismissed the suggestion that this was to convey the message that the former functionaries would not be restored to their earlier positions. “It is for the general secretary to decide who should be given what position and when,” he added.

Meanwhile, a veteran office-bearer from a southern district, who said he had come to know of the press release through newspapers, felt that the communication was a “subtle message” to the former rebels to fall in line with the party’s position and not to flaunt their previous posts.