O Panneerselvam, Edappadi K Palaniswami flay Sasikala in joint message

The joint-statement, reflecting the late CM J Jayalalithaa’s tone, comes at a time when whispers in the political corridors suggest of a trouble brewing as Electricity Minister P Thangamani believed to be a staunch loyalist of EPS was left-out when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an audience to OPS last week in Delhi.

The statement blamed the party’s deposed and jailed leader VK Sasikala and her clan of having a truck with the Opposition to derail the government. The 46th Founder’s Day message was politically loaded which also recalled the circumstances which led to the formation of the AIADMK following MG Ramachandran’s ouster from the DMK. 

“People’s view is the (Sasi) clan would not be spared for their pretensions before Jaya and their actions behind former CM’s back. They were the reason for Jayalalithaa’s worry and now are trying to destroy the party. They had opened channels of communication with our political rivals, who were to be blamed for the agony faced by Jayalalithaa both physically and mentally with the foisting of cases against her. We have thwarted their attempts to bring down the government through their shady business deals with rivals. Our leader had umpteen number of times explained to us the traits of the said family and we too are aware of their ways,” the letter read. It also further urged the party cadre to strive for the party’s victory in the ensuing local body polls. 

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai revealed that he was still working towards unifying the party as he did when OPS moved away from the party besides reiterating that only the ruling dispensation led by EPS would secure the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol which was frozen by the Election Commission. Referring to the splinter group rallying behind TTV Dinakaran and Sasikala, Thambidurai opined that there are chances for them to return to the party’s fold. 

Expressing a strong view against the Centre’s Hindi imposition, Thambidurai said that the party would never go astray from its principles. “We are not against Hindi, but that doesn’t mean that we would allow it being thrust on other regional languages. We will stick to our two-language formula like before. We would also work to secure the official language status for languages, including Tamil that figure in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution,” he said.