EPS betrayed me during AIADMK's four and half year regime: OPS

CHENNAI: The former chief minister and ousted AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam came down heavily on opposition leader of the house Edappadi K Palaniswami alleging that the latter had 'betrayed' him during four and half years when AIADMK was in power.

Paneerselvam's hard-hitting speech came when his faction had organized the district secretary's meeting in the city.

Claiming that he worked with Palaniswami taking into consideration of party's future, the deputy opposition leader of the house alleged that the people in the country will not forgive Palaniswami for his move to remove former and late leader J Jayalalithaa from the party's general secretary post.

"Amma (Jayalalithaa) is the party's permanent general secretary and it cannot be changed", he said adding "as per the party's law, the general secretary will be selected only by the cadres".

Challenging Palaniswami to float a separate political party and face the elections, Panneerselvam alleged "you (Palaniswami) do not know where you will fall".

Recalling Palaniswami's claim that he was close with AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran, Panneerselvam said "did he ever speak to MGR. Never..".

He also alleged that Palaniswami's faction has seriously attempted to stop him from participating in the AIADMK general council meeting.

"However, I attended to submit the party's profit and loss account as a treasurer", he said.

Panneerselvam also disclosed that when he turned rebel against VK Sasikala, who was attempting to take over the party after Jayalalithaa's death, he was offered to form the government with DMK with his few MLAs and with the help of TTV Dinakaran, who had over 30 AIADMK legislators in his camp.

"However, I did not do it for the party cadres", he said adding "I would have even got deputy chief minister post when he would have joined DMK to form the government".

Alleging that Palaniswami was the sole responsible for the general election debacle, he alleged that Palaniswami also stopped his son and sole Lok Sabha AIADMK member Raveendranath to become union minister when BJP took over power at the Centre for the second time.

Claiming that his faction would capture the AIADMK party and its 'two leaves' symbol in the legal battle, Panneerselvam said that he would also steer the party and its cadres to form the next government.

Earlier, the district secretary's meeting, organized by the Panneerselvam group, was attended by senior leaders including Panruti Ramachandran, R Vaithilingam, Manoj Pandian, JCD Prabakar, and other senior functionaries.

During the meeting, Panruti Ramachandran appealed to the cadres to be united and accept the leadership of Panneerselvam since he has rich experience.