Chennai:
Expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) on Monday met Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam chief TTV Dhinakaran and the leaders announced a working arrangement to take on both the Edappadi K Palaniswami-led AIADMK and the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu.
Nearly six years after parting ways with Dhinakaran, Panneerselvam joined hands with him and veteran leader Panruthi S. Ramachandran said that a new arrangement has been finalized between Panneerselvam and Dhinakaran, which will lead to an alignment between the CPI and the CPI(M). Looks like. He said that this step is based on the wishes of the party workers.
Mr Dhinakaran is Sasikala’s nephew and both were ousted from the party in 2017 after the OPS and Palaniswami, who is now the general secretary of the AIADMK, merged their respective factions.
Ramachandran, an OPS loyalist who attended the meeting, said the former chief minister would soon meet VK Sasikala, a confidant of former party supremo J Jayalalithaa. Sasikala is also meeting her supporters across the state to counter Palaniswami.
“We want to defeat our betrayers (Palaniswamy) and our enemies (DMK),” Dinakaran told reporters after a meeting of about 40 minutes at his posh Adyar residence in the city. Panneerselvam and Dhinakaran shook hands with a smile, indicating the coming together of prominent leaders expelled from the AIADMK. Panneerselvam and his supporters were expelled from the party last year and some related cases challenging this are in court.
Dhinakaran, who founded the AMMK in 2018, said that there was never any animosity or enmity between him and the OPS and they were separated due to some reasons and are now coming together.
Asserting that he would soon meet ‘Chinnamma’ (as Sasikala is called by her supporters), Panneerselvam insisted that the arrangement was the first step towards realizing the goal of bringing together “Amma’s cadres”. Was. Responding to another question, he said that court cases regarding his expulsion from AIADMK are pending in court and the legal battle will be taken forward.
Dinakaran said: “We are not joining hands on the basis of any selfishness and our only aim is to put the organization of Purchi Thalaivar (AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran) in the hands of true workers of Amma (late party chief Jayalalithaa).” The top AMMK leader apparently hit out at Palaniswami, saying the party must take back those who “hijacked” it. He also described the ruling DMK as an “evil force”. This arrangement is the wish of the party workers and now it has been formalised.
Responding to a question on the acrimony between Dhinakaran and the OPS, the three leaders said only future goals are important and there is no need to dwell on the past.
On his meeting with Chief Minister MK Stalin’s son-in-law V Sabarisan a few days ago, the OPS said it had nothing to do with politics and the meeting took place in full public glare at a sports venue. He said it was out of etiquette and decorum.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)