Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday expelled rival O Panneerselvam’s sons and his 16 supporters from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, PTI reported.

On Monday, the party had elevated Palaniswami as the interim general secretary putting an end to the long-drawn tussle between him and Panneerselvam. The AIADMK had also expelled Panneerselvam from the party’s primary membership for allegedly indulging in “anti-party activities”.

Paneerselvam was formerly the coordinator of the AIADMK and Palaniswami was the joint coordinator. The two positions were created during the general council meeting on September 12, 2017, after the party gave the honorary title of “eternal general secretary” to late former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

On Thursday, the party expelled Panneerselvam’s sons P Ravindhranath – Lok Sabha member from the Theni constituency – and his younger brother VP Jayapradeep. Former minister and Panneerselvam loyalist, Vellamandi N Natarajan was also sacked.

Others who were expelled include former MP SPM Syed Khan, former MLA Kovai Selvaraj, party spokesperson Marudha Alaguraj, former Chennai MLA VNP Venkatraman, party’s Kanyakumari East District Secretary SA Asokan, office-bearer of MGR youth wing Kolathur D Krishnamurthy, former Puducherry MLA Om Shakthi Sekar and former MP R Gopalakrishnan.

In a statement, the party said that the move was a disciplinary action against the 18 members, PTI reported. All of them acted against the party’s interests and principles and brought disgrace to the organisation, the party said.