Panneerselvam to tour TN to gauge public mood

While Edappadi K Palaniswami looks set to pass a floor test on Saturday, proving his majority in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly, and form a government, former chief minister O Panneerselvam has plans of his own.

Despite his rebellion against Sasikala seemingly unsuccessful, OPS’ camp remains defiant, with the three-time chief minister stating on Thursday night that he would “tour the state and get to know the mood of the people,” and confirmed that his fight against VK Sasikala and her family would continue.

“Let us all together stop the party and government from going into the hands of a single family again. Let us form a people’s government again in sync with the aspirations of people. Till then, this struggle will continue,” he said.

E Madhusudhanan, the AIADMK’s former presidium chairman who maintains that his expulsion was illegal as Sasikala was not general secretary, expelled the convicted leader as well as two members of her family for “going against party principles and ideas.”

Before surrendering at a Bengaluru jail, Sasikala had named her nephew, TTV Dhinakaran, as deputy general secretary of the party. Dhinakaran had been expelled along with the rest of his family by Jayalalithaa in 2011. And, unlike his aunt, was never allowed back in while the late AIADMK supremo still lived.

While Panneerselvam has yet to announce plans of his tour, sources in his camp suggest that he would be waiting to see the results of Saturday’s floor test before announcing an itinerary.

Though Edappadi Palaniswami insists that he has the support of the 120 MLAs that have been holed up at Golden Bay resort in Koovathur since OPS launched his rebellion last week, he isn’t guaranteed a victory.

Yet another MLA, Nataraj from Mylapore, crossed over to the OPS camp on Friday. Speaking to the media, Nataraj said that he would be voting against Palaniswami after consulting with members of his constituency and to prevent “a party breakup.”