Missing of OPS name ‘accidental’: Minister

Former minister Vaigai Selvan on Sunday termed the absence of OPS from the meeting attended by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami as accidental. He also recalled that OPS has been constantly striving for party unity and insisting the same among the cadre in every meeting. “We are functioning with good understanding,” said Vaigai Selvan at Madurai airport. 

Stating that there is no intention behind the exclusion of Panneerselvam and his supporters from the function, state Revenue Minister RB Udayakumar said that the function was not a pre-planned one. He rejected the claims of MP V Maitreyan that OPS was not invited for the function. “We sent the invite to Panneerselvam’s residence, but he had already committed himself to attend a temple festival on Saturday morning. He could not attend the party function due to it,” said Udayakumar. 

The Minister also defended the missing of the Deputy Chief Minister’s name from the tablet fixed below the flag mast. “It was missed out accidentally and now the names of all the Ministers including that of the Deputy CM are present on the tablet,” the Revenue Minister added. 

It may be recalled that in the Saturday’ function in Madurai the names of Panneerselvam and the MLAs supporting him were absent in all the flex banners and also in the stone tablet fixed at the flag mast. As a controversy broke out when OPS skipped the function, despite being in Madurai, a separate stone tablet with his name was fixed at the flag mast. Moreover, Maitreyan’s visit to Raj Bhavan and his accusation that OPS was not invited for the Madurai flag mast inauguration function added fuel to the controversy fire.