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Panneerselvam reaches out, Palaniswami rejects truce offer
AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) on Thursday called for unity in the party and urged his “dear brother” Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) to “let bygones be bygones” but the latter ruled out any association.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) on Thursday called for unity in the party and urged his “dear brother” Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) to “let bygones be bygones” but the latter ruled out any association.
OPS said his invitation for unification of party factions was also directed at expelled party leader V K Sashikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran.
OPS’s outreach to EPS came a day after the Madras high court ruled in favour of the former and ordered status quo ante as on June 23 with respect to the AIADMK leadership. The ruling means OPS is back as party coordinator and EPS is the joint coordinator.
EPS appealed against the order in the high court on Thursday, even as OPS extended an olive branch to him, seeking to put an end to differences between the two factions.
Speaking to reporters, OPS addressed EPS as ‘anbu sagotharar’ (dear brother) and appealed for rapprochement.
The arrangement of “joint leadership” was brought in to steer the party in the absence of late AIADMK chief and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalithaa, OPS said.
“After Amma’s (Jayalalithaa) death (in December 2016), dear brother Palaniswami became the chief minister and we travelled along, extending good cooperation. Many democratic duties were discharged by us,” he said.
“He (EPS) performed well as the chief minister and I supported him. We worked well together. That stance should come in again. He didn’t fall short, neither did I. So there is no problem with the dual leadership,” he added.
After Amma’s death, “Dharma Yudham” (war for honour) was undertaken (by OPS against expelled party leader VK Sasikala and her family) and as per wishes of party workers and leaders, it was decided as a policy that AIADMK will function under joint leadership, OPS said. Subsequently, the posts of coordinator and joint coordinator were created, he added.
There was no shortcoming in this aspect from either leaders as they diligently performed the roles in the interest of the party and within the ambit of its laws, he said.
OPS said party workers had set aside their political path as “brothers” of party founder and later chief minister M G Ramachandran (MGR) and “sons” of Amma but due to some “difference of opinion”, there was an “abnormal situation”, in an apparent reference to differences with EPS.
“Let bygones be bygones… would never say it affected us… 1.5 crore party workers and the people who desire the good rule of MGR and Amma want this movement to remain united,” OPS told reporters.
“Without holding any grudges of the past bitterness, we should throw them away (as) the party’s unity should be the sole idea,” he added.
Asked if his invitation was also extended to Sasikala and Dhinakaran, the senior leader said it applied to all those “who strived for the party during” the period of MGR and Jayalalithaa and responded in the affirmative when prodded further.
“This (invitation) includes Chinamma (Sasikala) and Dhinakaran. Is that enough?” he said.
A confidant of Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and Dhinakaran were expelled from the party in 2017 on charges of indulging in anti-party activities, after then separate factions headed by EPS and OPS came together.
Hitting back, EPS said his rival often gave such invitations.
“How can we join? Should he (OPS) not have come to the General Council? He went to the party office with rowdies and attacked it, broke open the doors, damaged comps and stole key documents,” EPS said, referring to clashes between supporters of the two factions at the party headquarters here in Royapettah last month.
“How can we work with such a person who employs rowdies and goondas, despite being in the leadership role. Party workers were attacked. How can I work with him?” he added.
EPS also claimed he is not behind posts. He said the party’s efforts to project him as the chief minister’s face in the 2021 elections and demand for a single leadership were his supporters’ desire.
While EPS, too, repeatedly addressed OPS as “elder brother”, he questioned the latter’s assertion of being a Jayalalithaa loyalist. OPS was the chief agent to Jayalithaa’s rival candidate in the 1989 Bodinayakanur assembly elections, EPS alleged.
“How can he (OPS) be a loyalist of Amma? We have been with Amma always. He will do anything for power,” EPS charged.
In his plea before the high court against Thursday’s order of a single judge, EPS contended that by granting an order of status quo ante as on June 23, the judge has virtually interfered with the decisions taken in the general council meetings on June 11 and 23. This is directly in contravention of the order of the Supreme Court passed this year against the order of a division bench of this court, which had placed restrictions on the general council meeting held on June 23, he said.
The top court had ultimately stayed the operation of this order, he pointed out.
Dhinakaran, meanwhile, welcomed OPS’s invitation.
“AIADMK has to unite to face the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). I welcome O Panneerselvam’s opinion,” he said.
“But power obsessed, betrayers will not accept such good things,” he added, in an apparent reference to EPS and his supporters.
WITH PTI INPUTS
