The olive branch extended jointly by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam to the 18 disqualified MLAs only goes to show that they are afraid of the growing popularity of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), its leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran has said.
Addressing mediapersons in Rasipuram in Namakkal district on Sunday, Mr. Dhinakaran claimed that the entire cadre base of the AIADMK was siding with the AMMK, and this had triggered panic among the Chief Minister and his deputy. “The invitation to the 18 disqualified MLAs [to rejoin the AIADMK] only proved their weakness,” he said.
“Both Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam have been claiming that they have the backing of their party cadre. If that were the case, why would they appeal to the disqualified MLAs to return to the AIADMK?” he asked.
Stating that the 18 disqualified legislators supporting him had “sacrificed a lot”, Mr. Dhinakaran maintained that they won’t be joining the ruling party, no matter the cost.
Some loyal party cadre were supporting the EPS-OPS combine out of compulsion as they were in power at the moment, he said.
Terming the current regime ‘Edappadi Vilas’, he said it would be closed down once the government fell and the AIADMK cadre got behind him.
Mr. Dhinakaran said the 18 legislators who supported him were disqualified for no fault of theirs. They will emerge victorious in the byelections (as and when they were held), the AMMK leader added.
