In an admission that rattled the AIADMK, party coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Friday said he had met rebel leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran at the residence of a “common friend” in Chennai in July 2017. At that time he was leading a Dharma Yudham against V.K. Sasikala and her family, and was making efforts to merge his faction with the one led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
Mr. Panneerselvam’s admission came hours after Mr. Dhinakaran, leader of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), gave details of the meeting, confirming what his senior party colleague Thanga Tamilselvan said on Thursday. Addressing reporters at his Greenways Road residence, Mr. Panneerselvam, flanked by Ministers R.B. Udhayakumar and ‘Ma Foi’ K. Pandiarajan, said he had agreed to meet Mr. Dhinakaran out of “political decency.” Besides, he had wanted to know what the AMMK leader had to say.
“I would have been approached [by the emissary] 100 or 200 times. I had originally conveyed [to the emissary] that it would not be possible for me to meet him when I am carrying on Dharma Yudham [a political campaign that Mr. Panneerselvam ran against the “dominance” of Sasikala]. But, I was told that Mr. Dhinakaran wanted to quit politics and had undergone a ‘change of heart’. The request made to me was that ‘just meet him at least once’. I had also thought that he would have some good words to say,” Mr. Panneerselvam said, explaining the circumstances behind the meeting.
But, “to my shock”, there was no “change in the attitude” in the rebel leader. “He spoke to me only with the intention of capturing the party and the government. This was unacceptable to me,” claimed Mr. Panneerselvam.
The Deputy Chief Minister accused Mr. Dhinakaran of “trying to create confusion” within the party and the government at a time when the AIADMK was preparing to face the by-election in Tiruparankundram.
“Today, the [common] friend met me and profusely apologised. He told me that he had worked for the meeting out of good intentions and had never imagined that the other person would behave in such a cheap manner,” Mr. Panneerselvam claimed.
Rubbishing the AMMK leader’s claim that he had made another attempt to meet him, Mr. Panneerselvam said: “It is the conspiracy of Mr. Dhinakaran to tarnish my reputation in the political field.”
After the reunion of the two factions – AIADMK (Amma) and the AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma), he had decided that he would have “not even an iota of contact” with Mr. Dhinakaran. The AIADMK coordinator said that even his colleagues weren’t aware of the meeting. This was why they it denied on Thursday.
“Today, I explained to them about the background,” he said, denying that his younger brother had any role in the episode.
Mr. Panneerselvam also denied a reported remark by Mr. Dhinakaran that he had attempted to lure one of the disqualified legislators, Kathirkamu of Periyakulam, and strike a deal with the BJP to bring down the government headed by Mr. Palaniswami.
