EPS-OPS bonhomie grows even as Dinakaran seethes
Tamil Nadu chief minister and his newly-appointed deputy continued their bonhomie on Wednesday even as sacked AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran remained stedfast against the merger of party’s rival factions.
Deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam thanked chief minister E Palanisami on Wednesday for bringing him back to the fold and promised to tread the path chosen by MGR and Amma. “Now I have got this opportunity to meet you all and thank Jayalalithaa for everything she did for me. For this I am grateful to EPS for giving me this chance,” Panneerselvam said to thunderous applause at a MGR centenary celebrations function in Tiruchirapalli. “I will walk the path shown by MGR and Amma,” he said.
Palanisami expressed happiness over the merger and said “seeing a unified party makes me immensely happy”. Thanking OPS in return, he said, “We are together after a gap of six months and I am happy that we will be working to translate Amma’s dreams into reality.”
While the state’s two top leaders displayed warm ties, OPS supporters marched to the Puducherry sea-side resort, where MLAs loyal to Dinakaran had taken shelter, and burnt the effigy of Sasikala’s nephew. They also tried to break the police cordon there .
On a day when Congress came out in full support of Dinakaransupporting MLAs by writing another letter to the governor
seeking an urgent floor test, the sacked AIADMK deputy general secretary went on a sacking spree himself, targeting leaders who he thought were commenting against Sasikala. Among those ‘sacked’ by Dinakaran from party posts included minister RB Udayakumar. MLAs holed up inside the resort are said to be given instructions to stay put till further orders from Dinakaran.
More bad news greeted Dinakaran camp after the Supreme Court dismissed review petition filed by Sasikala challenging the judgment holding her guilty in disproportionate assets case. V Pugalendi, TTV supporter, said, “We were expecting a favourable judgment. But we still have the option of a curative petition which we will use.”
The judgment comes as a shot in the arm for the OPS camp that had raised a banner of revolt against Sasikala. In fact, it was OPS who revolted on February 7 at the Amma Memorial on Marina Beach, that plunged Tamil Nadu into political turmoil that took over six months to settle with the merger of the two AIADMK factions on Monday.
But this was not be as Dinakaran opposed the merger as he was sidelined and efforts were made to oust his aunt Sasikala.