AMMK to support DMK in Assembly: Thangatamilselvan 

Speaking to reporters at Andipatti in Theni district, he said 35 MLAs were needed to bring a ‘no confidence motion’ in the Assembly against the ruling AIADMK. Exuding confidence that the AMMK would certainly win from 18 Assembly constituencies, for which polls were conducted simultaneously with Lok Sabha elections, and the four more Assembly constituencies, which will go to polls on May 19, he said the AMMK will go along with the DMK to dissolve the government.

After meeting his party functionary Selvam, who was recently arrested by Andipatti police and jailed in connection with cash seizure of Rs 1.48 crore from party office in Andipatti a couple of days ahead of polls last month, he called that the case was fabricated against him.

However, he said his party would face the case legally.

The AMMK would then face battle in the next general elections and achieve massive victory to gain majority and form government, Thangatamilselvan said optimistically.  But, he added that the AMMK would never extend its support to DMK. The AMMK candidates, who would win from their Lok Sabha constituencies, would raise their voice in Parliament to protect the rights of Tamil Nadu.

Referring to Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar’s comment that AMMK was the ‘B’ team of DMK, he asked then why should the AMMK contest the polls independently. If so, the AMMK would have aligned with the DMK and contested the polls. Further, he said the AMMK would defeat both the DMK and AIADMK in the polls and send them back home.

Criticising Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, he said for the sake of gaining position in politics and wellbeing of his family, Panneerselvam could go up to any extent. Panneerselvam could have simply denied his merger with the BJP to a query by the media personnel recently. “But, his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Varanasi, where he was clad in saffron dhoti and falling at Modi’s feet would have pricked his conscience and so he released an eight-page statement in response to the query.

It was Panneerselvam, who along with VN Janaki, a rival faction of J Jayalalithaa, in those days, played an active role in fielding Venniradai Nirmala against Jayalalithaa’s candidature, he recalled while attacking the Deputy CM.