At Theni protest, Dhinakaran ridicules EPS faction as ‘tender padai’

MADURAI: Scores of cadre led by former chief minister O Panneerselvam and cadre of the AMMK led by its chief TTV Dhinakaran together staged a mass protest at Bangalamedu in Theni on Tuesday condemning the delay in the investigations of Kodanad heist-cum-murder case.

Panneerselvam, the Bodinayakkanur MLA, who spearheaded the protest said ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, Chief Minister MK Stalin promised that his party would bring the culprits in the Kodanad case to justice within a period of 90 days. Even after 30 months of the DMK led regime had gone by in the state, the police probe proceeds at snail’s pace. Citing these, Panneerselvam urged the state government to expedite the probe into the case and arrest all the accused.

Speaking in the protest, Dhinakaran said Theni, where he stepped up his political activities, is my motherland, where he was introduced by former chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa as a Member of Parliament. Almost 90 per cent of the loyal cadre of the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK are with us. Only ten per cent of the cadre parted ways and joined the other side and many obviously knew who were the accused in the Kodanad murder case. Despite this, the DMK-led government forgot about the case.

Dhinakaran further said, while the cadre, who remain with us are ‘Thondar padai’, those with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami are ‘Gundar padai’ and ‘Tender padai.’

Cadre loyalty is key to party success and he vowed to retrieve the party of AIADMK and its symbol and dedicate it to the loyal cadre.

“To achieve this, we have all united here,” Dhinakaran added.