TTV Dinakaran’s claims apart, O Panneerselvam may get Thevar’s armour

A day after the Bank of India’s Madurai branch, which is in charge of the armour, sought clarification from the ruling AIADMK faction about the ‘real AIADMK’ and its treasurer, Dinakaran wrote to the bank to hand over the armour to treasurer M Rengasamy appointed by his leader and aunt VK Sasikala. 

Dinakaran also added that he had no objection for handing over the armour to the trustee and said that the ornament would be returned to the bank on November 1. In a letter to the bank manager, Dinakaran said Sasikala was nominated as the general secretary of the party in a general council meeting. Initially, she appointed Dindigul C Sreenivasan as the treasurer and later he was removed from the post for anti-party activities. 

The nomination of Sasikala is valid, since neither the Election Commission nor any court had struck it down, Dinakaran pointed out in his letter that just a few days before the Guru Pooja celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of Thevar. Although, the case of party’s control is pending with the EC, the bank has decided to hand over the armoury to Panneerselvam, appointed as the treasurer by former general secretary Jayalalithaa. The treasurer of the AIADMK, a post held by OPS for nearly a decade now and the person in charge of the Thevar memorial in Pasumpon, are joint signatories to this safe deposit. Last year, Panneerselvam visited the bank on October 26 and received the armour along with trustee Gandhi Meenal, who is now ailing. 

The possession of Thevar’s gold armour during the festivities is a prestigious issue for both Sasikala and Panneerselvam, who are fighting to get a hold over the dominant Thevar community in the state.