Chennai, Mar 5 (IANS): The AIADMK on Saturday expelled O. Raja, brother of party Chief coordinator and former Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam from the primary membership of the party for meeting with expelled former interim general secretary of the party, V.K. Sasikala.

The party also removed three other party functionaries of Theni district. They include S. Murugesan, secretary of the literary wing; Karuppuji, secretary of the fishermen wing; and S. Sethupathy, secretary of the Gudalur town unit of the party.

Raja is the chief of the Theni Cooperative Milk Producers Union (Aavin).

The party, in a joint statement of Panneerselvam and Palaniswami, said that the disciplinary action was initiated due to the conduct of four persons including Raja. The statement said that they acted against the objectives and policies of the party, brought disrepute to the party, and violated the party's discipline.

This is the second time in three years that Raja was expelled from the party. In December 2018 he was expelled from the party hours before he was to be sworn in as the Chief of Madurai District Cooperative Milk Producers Union (Aavin). During that time he was charged with meeting then RK Nagar MLA and Sasikala's nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran for getting his support and this was without the knowledge of Panneerselvam. A week later he was taken back to the party after he expressed regret.

On Thursday, Panneerselvam conveyed a message to K. Palaniswami on his distancing from the resolution passed by the Theni district committee of the party urging to bring Sasikala back to its fold.