Suspense continues as Governor invites OPS, Palanisamy for talks

At around 8 pm, Palanisamy met the Governor along with ministers including P Thangamani and D Jayakumar and spent close to 30 minutes with him. 

Speaking to reporters after coming out of Raj Bhavan, Jayakumar said, “We anticipate that Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao, will save democracy. We have given him a list of 124 MLAs who support us. He has said he would give careful consideration to our views. We trust that the Governor will rescue democracy.” 

Asked the rival camp also claiming that they have numbers to prove the majority in the State Assembly, an annoyed Jayakumar said, “We have 124 MLAs and they have only eight MLAs. Which is bigger, eight or 124,” he asked. Soon after Palanisamy and his team left Raj Bhavan, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, accompanied by School Eduction Minister K Pandiarajan, Rajya Sabha MP V. Maitreyan, Natham R. Viswanathan, E Madhusoodanan. C.Ponnayan, S Semmalai and former MP Manoj Pandian called on the Governor at 8.40 pm. The meeting lasted for about 20 minutes following which the Chief Minister and his cavalcade left the premises without interacting with the media.

The Koovathur police have registered an FIR against AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala and her party’s CM nominee Edappadi K Palanisamy on Wednesday. The FIR was registered following a complaint lodged by Madurai MLA S Saravanan on Tuesday night, who levelled charges of kidnap, house arrest and threat of MLAs confined in Golden Bay Resorts in Koovathur against Sasikala and Edappadi Following the complaint, Kancheepuram Superintendent of Police J Mutharasi along with other senior police officials began an inquiry into the allegations. 

The Koovathur police also registered a case under Sections 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 342 (Punishment for wrongful confinement), 343 (Wrongful confinement for three or more days), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 365 (Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) and 506/1 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). 

According to sources, names of Sasikala, Edapaddi Palanisamy and a few others have been included in the FIR. Saravanan claimed that many of the MLAs were detained in the resort since February 8. Saravanan, had recently escaped from the resort and joined the OPS camp.