Dissonance gets louder in AIADMK

In the meantime, Revenue Minister RB Udayakumar and Madurai North MLA Rajan Chellappa launched a damage control mission on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Bhalaji speaking at a function in Periyakulam on Friday said that the ruling faction headed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami would get the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol, since it had the support of majority of the district secretaries, MPs and 98 per cent of the general council members. 

He further said “We have Modi’s support and we need not fear anyone. The Prime Minister will look after everything. As long as Modi continues to be the Prime Minister, the ruling AIADMK faction cannot be touched.” 

Addressing a public meeting in Chennai on Friday, senior leader and a Minister in the MGR cabinet Panrutti S Ramachandran said the people would not support any actor after MGR.

Meanwhile, in a meeting at Tirumangalam, Tirupparankundram MLA AK Bose added to the dissonance by asking who gave the rights to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to control the affairs in the party. He said, “Now the party is in turmoil because o f a few greedy persons, who are after power and position. They are like ‘Ettappans’ and they should be thrown out,” he said and added, “Because of them, Modi had indirectly interfered in the party affairs.” He questioned, “Who gave the right to Modi to meddle with the internal matters of the party?” 

However, state Revenue Minister RB Udayakumar on the same stage stated that there is nothing wrong in coalition with the Centre. 

A day after, on Saturday, Chellappa came to the rescue of Bose by stating that his comments were just casual references and not aimed at any particular individual.

It may be noted that Chellappa in the Tirumangalam meeting said, “The AIADMK was started in 1972 and at that time there was no BJP. So, when the BJP allies with AIADMK, it should start from the back and not lead.”