Describing the general council meeting convened by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and his deputy O. Panneerselvam on Tuesday as null and void, sidelined AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran has appealed to the party functionaries not to take the event seriously.
Mr. Dhinakaran pointed out that the MLAs who stood by him had submitted representations to the Governor, announcing the withdrawal of their support to the Chief Minister.
“It is almost three weeks now (since the representations were submitted). We will wait for another two days. If there is no response, we will go ahead with action against this government. It is evident that Mr. Palaniswami has lost his majority as more than 20 MLAs have expressed openly that they would not support him,”Mr. Dhinakaran said.
When asked if his threat risked being seen as an attempt to undo the mandate won by Jayalalithaa, Mr. Dhinakaran said that it was wrong to perceive it as such. “In fact, my action to remove Mr. Palaniswami and others would only help bring back Amma ’s (Jayalalithaa’s) rule,” he said.
“I will get into the job of cleansing the party,” Mr. Dhinakaran concluded.
Mr. Dhinakaran, who remained calm and composed during a press conference here shortly after the AIADMK (Amma, PTA) resolved to oust his aunt Sasikala, said that the fate of these resolutions would be known only on October 23 before the Madras High Court. On Monday, the court had said that the decisions of the general council meeting would be subject to the final outcome of a petition challenging the convening of the meeting.
“As per the party’s bylaws, only the general secretary can convene the general council meeting. In the absence of Ms. Sasikala, the meeting itself is not valid. This cannot be called a general council meeting, but is merely a public meeting,” Mr. Dhinakaran claimed.
“Many party cadre have expressed dissatisfaction with governance in Tamil Nadu. They are unable to countenance a person like Edappadi K. Palaniswami holding the CM’s post. These people (Palaniswami and Panneerselvam) are no match. Soon, they would be shown the door. While one man has brought disrepute to the party, the other is only keen on looting it,” he alleged.
Police pursue ex-Minister
Meanwhile, a team of police from Tamil Nadu visited a private resort in Coorg in Karnataka, where MLAs supporting T.T.V. Dhinakaran have been staying for the past few days, to arrest former Higher Education Minister P. Palaniappan for allegedly abetting the suicide of a contractor.
The arrival of the team led to speculation that they were there to ascertain whether the legislators were staying there out of their own free will.
However, it transpired later that the team was looking for Mr. Palaniappan, and could not find him at the resort.
The personnel are now camping in Coorg, hoping to trace his whereabouts.
