E-Paper
Stalin accuses O Panneerselvam of conducting yagna in office to become CM
DMK chief MK Stalin accused Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) of conducting a yagna (ritual sacrifice) inside his chamber at the secretariat to topple chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami and become the CM himself.
Tamil Nadu’s opposition party DMK chief MK Stalin on Sunday accused deputy chief minister (DCM) O Panneerselvam (OPS) of conducting a yagna (ritual sacrifice) inside his chamber at the secretariat in the wee hours to topple chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami and become the CM himself.
“Since Sayan, one of the accused, who tried to seize documents from late CM Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad estate on April 2017, has been accusing that CM EPS was the reason behind the death of five people associated with Kodanad estate bungalow, the CM is facing pressure. OPS hopes that the CM would go to prison soon. As DCM wants to become the CM immediately, he has conducted a yagna in the secretariat,” Stalin said at a marriage function near Chennai.
Sayan is one of the 10 accused in the April 2017 Kodanad estate robbery case. In an investigative documentary done by former Tehelka editor Samuel Mathew, Sayan said that former chief minister late Jayalalithaa’s former driver Kanagaraj had asked him to rob documents on the advice of chief minister Palaniswami.
Stalin also alleged that if OPS has not conducted the yagna to become CM, “it would be for burning some documents which are critical of him”.
He also slammed the deputy chief minister for conducting the alleged yagna inside the secretariat chamber.
“Government premises are separate from religious faiths and are common to all. Is it your (OPS) own house to conduct yagna? It is unacceptable to conduct a religious ritual inside the government office,” Stalin noted.
Periyar EV Ramasamy’s Dravidar Kazhagam president K Veeramani and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) — a Dalit party — president Thol Thirumavalavan also condemned Panneerselvam for allegedly carrying out rituals inside the TN secretariat.
Fisheries minister D Jayakumar, however, denied Stalin’s charges.
“Stalin is levelling baseless allegation against the DCM. No yagna has been conducted in the DCM’s chamber. This is a ploy planned by AIADMK rebel TTV Dhinakaran and MK Stalin to divide our leaders OPS and EPS,” Jayakumar said.
However, after the robbery attempt, one security guard, late CM Jayalalithaa’s driver Kanagaraj, Kodanad Bungalow’s CCTV operator Dinesh and Sayan’s wife and daughter had died consecutively. While Sayan agreed that they have mistakenly beaten security Om Bahadur to death, a few days after CCTV operator Dinesh killed himself.
Also, Kanagaraj had been killed in a road accident. Sayan met with an accident while returning to his native place in Kerala. His wife and daughter died on the spot in the accident. Sayan who sustained with injuries has been saying that CM EPS sent them to rob the documents.
Amid the row over OPS’s alleged yagna, AIADMK sources say that senior party leader and Lok Sabha deputy speaker M Thambidurai has also conducted a yagna in Thirupaampuram temple near Thanjavur on Sunday.
As Thambidurai has been making attacks against BJP, speculations were rife saying that the Yagna has conducted by the LS deputy speaker as he wants to float own party.
However, Thambidurai denied the rumours, saying that he just went to the temple along with his family members.
