O Panneerselvam dares Sasikala to let MLAs go to constituencies

“If her claims (Sasikala) that all the party MLAs are with her is true, then why is she going to Koovathur every day to meet them (referring to her visits on Saturday and Sunday). If all the party MLAs are loyal to Sasikala, let her allow them to return to their constituencies and find out from the people whom they should support,” Pannerselvam told reporters gathered outside his residence at Greenways Road on Sunday night amid loud cheers from his supporters.

Recalling how Sasikala and her close aides had ensured that he did not get close to late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa when she was alive, Panneerselvam said, “I was tortured, harassed for being in the good books of Amma. They could not tolerate the fact that Amma had not even once, during the last 20 years of my association with her, had chided me or punished me for any wrongdoing. And, they could not tolerate that,” he said. 

When asked if it was true that Sasikala and her relatives ensured that there was no successor to Jayalalithaa in the party, Pannerselvam said that it was an open secret. “Everyone knows the reason for AIADMK not having a successor to Jayalalithaa, I don’t have to elaborate on it.” 

Justifying his decision to constitute a commission to inquire into the death Jayalalithaa, Pannerselvam said, “All the ministers including me had been camping at the Apollo Hospitals for over 75 days but not once did any one of us was allowed to see her. She (Sasikala) was the only one who was taking care of her. If she was so sure that Amma was alright, why did she not come out and tell the public about it. Has she ever done that in the last 75 days?” he said.

Later, presidium chairman E Madhusoodhanan who was recently sacked from the post by Sasikala, said that dates would soon be announced for fresh elections for the post of general secretary. Pannerselvam added that the responsibility for conducting the party elections should be given to the Election Commission of India. “Then we will know if Sasikala gets elected as GS,” he said.

In-yet-another indicator of continuing support for caretaker Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, six more Members of Parliament including a Rajya Sabha MP merged with OPS camp, bring the MPs count to 11 on Sunday. Three Lok Sabha MPs— Jeyasingh Thiyagaraj Natterjee from Thoothukudi constituency, B Senguttuvan from Vellore and R P Marutharaja, Perambalur met OPS on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, two more MPs-S Rajendran from Villupuram (Lok Sabha) and RS MP R Lakshmanan from the same constituency met Panneerselvam in the afternoon and conveyed their support. The MPs also roped in Viluppuram AIADMK West-secretary and many women cadre switched over to the OPS camp. Later in the evening, Theni MP R Parthiban also joined pledged his support to Panneerselvam.