Edappadi K Palaniswami will soon be Tamil Nadu Chief Minister again, says P Thangamani

COIMBATORE: In a sign of rapprochement, the dissident former minister P. Thangamani on Friday endorsed the leadership of AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami by saying he would soon return as Chief Minister.

Thangamani made the remarks while leading an AIADMK demonstration at Fort Maidan in Salem as part of the party’s statewide agitation demanding a complete waiver of crop loans and pressing for Tamil Nadu’s rights in the Cauvery water dispute.

Targeting the TVK government, Thangamani alleged that several schemes introduced by former Chief Ministers J. Jayalalithaa and Palaniswami had merely been renamed and reintroduced by the present government.

“People have now begun regretting their decision to vote for the TVK. This government will not survive for long, and Palaniswami will soon become Chief Minister,” he said.

Thangamani also sought to highlight Palaniswami’s stand on the proposed Mekedatu dam in Karnataka, saying the AIADMK leader had written to the Union government on the issue. “But the TVK government had failed to take the issue seriously despite its implications,” he said.

Thangamani’s participation assumes significance as former ministers of the rebel faction SP Velumani and Natham R. Viswanathan stayed away from the protest due to differences with the party’s leadership.