OPS camps denies charges of taking away docus from party office

CHENNAI: Hours after former minister and AIADMK Rajya Sabha member C Ve Shanmugam lodged a police complaint alleging that O Panneerselvam and his supporters had taken away several crucial documents related to AIADMK offices, including the headquarters and others in Madurai and Coimbatore, OPS’s loyalist denied the charges saying that the party had no such practice of keeping those documents in headquarters.

Shanmugam claimed that when the GC meeting of AIADMK was undergoing in Vanagaram on July 11, OPS and his followers stormed the party office and broke all the rooms in the headquarters.

“Several crucial documents related to the AIADMK headquarters and AIADMK offices in Madurai and Coimbatore are missing. OPS’s men had taken those vital documents in a vehicle, after indulging in violence on July 11,” Shanmugam told the media.

An enraged Shanmugam further asked how dare he (OPS) was to enter and vandalise the AIADMK office.

“It was owned by Janaki Ramachandran and donated to our leader MG Ramachandran. Subsequently, MGR transferred the same to our AIADMK party. A true cadre of AIADMK will never break open and ransack that building,” Shanmugam added.

However, OPS’s supporter and former Karnataka state AIADMK secretary Va Pugazhenthi claimed all those charges levelled by the RS MP as baseless and false. “The assertions of Shanmugam were merely to tarnish the reputation of Panneerselvam. How come a former CM and coordinator of the party will take away the documents of his own outfit?” Pugazhenthi told the DT Next. When asked whether there were any crucial documents in the AIADMK headquarters, Pugazhenthi negated such contention.

“Currently, no such documents are there at AIADMK headquarters. EPS is claiming that the party has one and a half crore cadres. However, they do not even have those party members’ details in the head office,” he added.

Pugazhenthi also pointed out that due to these kinds of falsified charges, EPS lost the legal battle to retrieve Amma’s (Jayalalithaa) Poes Garden residence.

Reacting to these developments, senior journalist Priyan said that the tussle between EPS and OPS has not only damaged their statuses but also AIADMK’s.

“The cadre of AIADMK are already frustrated due to the back-to-back electoral setbacks. Without realizing the position of the party, these leaders are continuing their internal strife which would further drive the party to show poor performance in elections,” the senior journalist opined.