Senthil Balaji’s revolt shocks Edappadi Palanisamy men

The faction received a rude jolt on Friday, when the MLA sought permission from the Karur police to observe a token fast on Friday in front of the collectorate condemning the attitude of state Transport Minister MR Vijayabaskar and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai. He claimed that they were blocking the formation of a medical college and hospital announced by late chief minister J Jayalalithaa. 

Senthil Balaji said that Jayalalithaa had announced the medical college and hospital at Vangal Kuppuchipalayam village in Karur under Rule 110 in the Assembly on August 12, 2015. Subsequently, a GO was issued on January 19, 2015, and Rs 229.46 crore was allocated for setting up the necessary infrastructure. The late chief minister even laid the foundation stone on March 1, 2016. 

However, work has not started on the medical college yet, due to the interference of Thambidurai and Vijayabhaskar, he charged.  Senthil Balaji said, “They are trying to hijack the medical college hospital project elsewhere from the original spot identified by the late chief minister Jayalalithaa.” His sudden charges against two prominent leaders from the region have raised several eyebrows in both the groups of the AIADMK.  

Moreover, the move has unsettled the Edappadi K Palanisamy-led faction due to the fear that if merely seven MLAs switch sides, the government would lose its majority, something which the AIADMK (PTA) and the DMK were hoping for. 

What was plaguing the reconciliation moves between the two groups was the vocal support expressed by seven of the MLAs to party deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran. The seven MLAs (P Vetrivel (Perambur), Thanga Tamilselvan (Andipatti), SDK Jakkaian (Cumbum), K Kadir Kamu (Periakulam), SG Subramanian (Sattur), SM Pandian (Tenkasi) and B Murugan (Harur), a couple of days ago reiterated that they would remain with Dinakaran till the end. 

They made no mention of their continued support to Palanisamy.  The present government knew it cannot afford a rebellion now. Even, O Panneerselvam group leader KP Munusamy indicated that many MLAs were likely to switch sides, if peace talks were held between the rival factions. 

While AIADMK(A) leaders were not willing to talk about the issues of Senthil Balaji and other MLAs, they said everything would be settled soon. Reacting to the rebellion, an OPS group leader said, “It is their problem and they have to settle it, but this only proves that they are jittery about losing their MLAs.”