Exactly a day after the ADMK leadership had expelled veteran leader Anwhar Raajhaa from the party, it has appointed another key leader from the minority community to the top post of the party. On Tuesday, ADMK leaders Edappadi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam had announced that Raajhaa was removed from the party for acting against its principles. Anwhar Raajhaa was in the ADMK since its establishment in 1972 and he had served as a Tamil Nadu Minister and Lok Sabha MP under Jayalalithaa's leadership. 

Being a prominent leader from the minority community, Raajhaa had also served as the Chief of ADMK's Minority Wing. While the expulsion, which has come a day ahead of the party's Executive Committee meeting, had deepened the intra-party furore, the ADMK leadership had on Wednesday seemingly gratified the Muslim community for removing Anwhar Raajhaa by awarding a key post to another key Muslim leader of the party. 

According to reports, ADMK leaders Edappadi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam had announced that senior leader Tamil Magan Hussain has been appointed as the ADMK's Presidium Chairman. The announcement was made at the party's crucial Executive Committee meeting that was held on Wednesday - December 1. Hussain was appointed to the post after the previous chairman Madhusudanan was passed away in August 2021. As per the announcement, Hussain will be holding the post temporarily.

In appointing Hussain, Edappadi Palaniswami had okayed Panneerselvam's recommendation of elevating Hussain to the top post and also aimed to retain the minority vote base by giving them the representations. Earlier, there were reports which said that Panneerselvam was attempting to bring Tamil Mahan Hussain or Anwhar Raajhaa as the ADMK's Chairman for the presidium while Edappadi Palaniswami advocated to bring in Ponnaiyan or Thambi Durai. 

However, as Anwhar Raajaa was expelled, Palaniswami had accepted Panneerselvam's pick and felicitated the appointment. In October, Hussain said that he would be appointed as the Chairman of the presidium as he is one of the senior-most members of the party.  Our sources say that Anwhar Raajhaa had expressed his dissent against the party's leadership in the recently-held district secretaries' meet, which also had witnessed heated arguments between the senior leaders. The event has displayed the ongoing leadership crisis and the top leaders have only fueled it by their decision of completely removing Anwhar Raajhaa from the party.

In the statement that was shared by ADMK on social media at 10.47 pm on Tuesday, both the top leaders have said, "Anwhar Raajhaa has been expelled from the primary membership and from all roles of the party for acting against the principles and bringing disrepute to the party, for making statements against the party's decision, and for acting in a manner of causing a harm for the party's name and reputation." "We are asking the party functionaries not to exercise any contact with him", the statement signed by Edappadi Palaniswami and Panneerselvam added.