No place for wolves in herd, EPS on merger call

CHENNAI: Days after expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam stated that he was willing to return to the fold without any condition-along with VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran-party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami made it clear that there is no scope for taking them back by stating that wolves and goats cannot co-exist.

Palaniswami, in a three-page letter ahead of former CM J Jayalalithaa’s 77th birth anniversary, addressing the cadre, made this remark to drive his point home.

Without taking the names of OPS, Sasikala and Dhinakaran, Palaniswami said that he heard the voice of the cadre that they cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with ‘traitors.’ “I appeal to everyone to work like Amma’s (Jayalalithaa’s) true loyalists,” said Palaniswami and recalled the former CM’s declaration that the AIADMK was the true people’s movement and it would work for the people of the State for centuries even after her lifetime.

Will wolf and goat coexist? Will the combination of weed and crop yield a better harvest? Will loyalists and traitors work shoulder to shoulder, Palaniswami quipped. “That it will never happen,” he said to quell the growing demand from certain quarters for unification of the party, opening the doors for leaders such as O Panneerselvam, V K Sasikala and their supporters.

EPS sharpened his attack on those who bat for the merger of the factions headed by OPS and Sasikala into the party by stating that the party remains a fortress of ideologically driven, spirited warriors.