Forests Minister Dindigul C. Sreenivasan on Sunday said there was no internal conflict in the ruling AIADMK. “The party and the government are being run in a smooth manner under the combined stewardship of the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister,” he said after inaugurating facilities in Dindigul panchayat union.
The Minister’s statement came a day after Madurai North MLA V.V. Rajan Chellappa said the party should have a single leader instead of dual power centres, sparking tension in its ranks.
“All Ministers and MLAs are cooperating with the two leaders at the helm, and there is no confusion among us. We are united in the cause of the party and the people. After the election results, we are now working towards strengthening the party and satisfying people’s needs,” Mr. Sreenivasan said.
Any issue related to the party should be discussed at the right place, he said, adding, “It is more like a quarrel between husband and wife and has to be handled and settled in an appropriate manner.”
He contended that the verdict of the Assembly byelections in Tamil Nadu was a reflection of people’s faith in the AIADMK. “People want us to rule the State and that is why they made us the winner in 9 Assembly seats. In the Lok Sabha election, the DMK-Congress combine managed to hoodwink the people by making false and impractical promises,” he claimed. “While the whole country has opted for Narendra Modi [as Prime Minister], it is a bunch of lies that has emerged victorious in Tamil Nadu. Soon, the misconceptions will be dispelled and we will get a positive mandate from the people in the local body elections,” he said.
Senior AIADMK leader and Mettur MLA S. Semmalai on Sunday said Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam were leading the party and the government in the right direction.
“Mr. Palaniswami is leading the government in the right manner and providing various welfare schemes to the State. Under the leadership of Mr. Panneerselvam, the party is also being led well. There is no confusion within the party or the government at present,” he said.
Bullock cart analogy
Regarding legislator V.V. Rajan Chellappa’s remarks questioning the dual leadership in the party, Mr. Semmalai said, “Our party is a people’s party, and the leadership has given all its cadre the liberty to voice their opinions. Mr. Chellappa and a few other legislators have shared their opinions, and the party leadership will take the right decision after listening to their views.”
Taking bullock carts as an example, he said there were carts pulled by one animal and there were those pulled by two animals, and in both cases, the carts would run fine. When asked who was riding the cart in relation to the ruling party, Mr. Semmalai said, “The cadre are riding it.”
Defending the dual leadership of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Minister for Information Technology M. Manikandan on Sunday said the two leaders were like the “two eyes” of the party.
Addressing reporters in Rameswaram, he said it would be wrong to discriminate against either of them or belittle their capabilities.
Rejecting the suggestion that the party had faced a rout in the just-concluded Lok Sabha election in the absence of a unitary leadership, he said the AIADMK had faced such routs in past elections too, even when Jayalalithaa was at the helm. The DMK too had faced routs in previous elections, he said. When asked whether he supported the dual leadership in the party,
Mr. Manikandan said the party’s general council — its highest policy-making body — had elected the two leaders to head the party, and if some people were unhappy with the arrangement, what to do about it was a matter for the general council to decide.
