Arasiyalle Ithellam Satharanamappa (It’s quite common in politics!), they say in Tamil. The people of Tamil Nadu were reminded of this adage, made popular by the film Suriyan, as several Ministers are already swallowing their own words uttered against former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, ahead of efforts to merge both factions of the AIADMK.
Since the night on February 7 this year, when Mr. Panneerselvam spoke his mind and raised the banner of revolt against V.K. Sasikala, way too many words of hatred have been thrown at him, and many Ministers have had launched vile personal attacks against him. And now, all those ill feelings have to be left behind, just for politics.
A few hours after the dramatic speech on Marina by Mr. Panneerselvam, Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam turned red-faced and called Mr. Panneerselvam a dhrogi (traitor) and went on to say traitors like him should not be allowed in Tamil Nadu. Incidentally, he is likely to be in the committee of leaders holding talks with the OPS faction.
Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar, who was among the first to openly say Mr. Panneerselvam should resign and make way for Sasikala to become the CM, has taken a U-turn and on Wednesday said it was from Mr. Panneerselvam they had “learnt loyalty [to the party].”
While Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar, during the Income Tax raids in his residence, said he would not connive like Mr. Panneerselvam, Cooperation Minister Sellur K. Raju said OPS lacked credentials to talk about leaders like M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. During the MLAs stay in Koovathur, Textiles Minister O.S. Manian too was quite critical of the former Chief Minister.
‘Nothing unusual’
Political commentator Gnani Sankaran says, “It doesn’t matter much to them. If you look at history, leaders have shifted between the DMK and the AIADMK despite having spoken quite harshly against each other. So, it’s nothing new for them to swallow their own words.”
When asked for a comment, AIADMK (Amma) spokesperson Theeran says, “It happens in politics as they tend say to react on the spur of the moment. But, if you notice, they haven’t spoken anything bad about Mr. Panneerselvam since yesterday after the decision was made and announced. Before local body polls, we have to get back the symbol and our focus is on that.”
