When Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam ridiculed T.T.V. Dhinakaran last week, saying the AMMK legislator is trying to prick a mountain with a bell pin, the MLA replied with a pun: “I know I cannot cause a wound to a mountain with a bell pin. But I can use it to prick the eyes.” It seems the former AIADMK leader has done it now. On Friday, Dhinakaran made a startling claim that Panneerselvam had offered a truce with him in July last year to oust the government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai on Friday, Dhinakaran said: “In July last year, before merging his faction with EPS, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam met me. He again sent a word to me for a meeting in September, through a common friend of ours. I wanted to put a full stop to this. So I have brought it out. It is only to put an end to the double talk of OPS.”
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He said, “On one side, OPS blames our family for all the wrongs with the AIADMK, and on the other he wants to open channels with me.”
In the context of Power Minister P. Thangamani claiming that Dhinakaran was trying to foment trouble in the ruling party, Dhinakaran dropped one more bombshell. “Power Minister Thangamani was among the clutch of MLAs ready to join the OPS faction after Palaniswami was named the chief minister in the talks at Koovathur. I went in and resolved the issue. Once again, when I was in a flight from Delhi, one friend of Thangamani approached me for my support to make him (Panneerselvam) the chief minister,” he claimed.
At a time when the AIADMK and its seniors are waiting with a bated breath for the verdict in the disqualification case of 18 MLAs, Dhinakaran’s claims have put the ruling party in jittery. Dhinakaran’s statement is likely to widen the rift in the AIADMK. Panneerselvam has yet to respond to Dhinakaran's allegations, while his cabinet colleagues and party MLAs rejected his comments.
“Dhinakaran is trying to create confusion because he has the fear of losing the upcoming byelections,” said Local Administration Minister S.P. Velumani.
While Panneerselvam is most likely to refute Dhinakaran’s claims, Palaniswami is fighting hard to ensure that the government under him continues to be in power. A nervous chief minister had several back to back meetings with AIADMK seniors, bureaucrats and senior BJP leaders in the state, said sources. Though it is claimed that the chief minister’s meetings were on the grounds of the red alert issued by the Indian Meteorological Department, his meeting with Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnanan, and later with Governor Banwarilal Purohit in the evening have raised eyebrows in the political circles. Earlier in the day, Pon Radhakrishnan had called on the governor at the Raj Bhavan.
Meanwhile, Palaniswami is all set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8 in New Delhi. The chief minister’s lieutenants, Thangamani and Velumani, had already called on Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minsiter Arun Jaitley. While it was said that the meeting was purely official, sources say that the duo met the ministers only to seek an appointment with Modi for Palaniswami.
The chief minister had called on Vice President Venkaiah Naidu when he was at Tirupati. Sources close to the chief minister say that the ruling AIADMK is now at the behest of the BJP. “Thangamani and Velumani have promised support to the BJP in the next elections. They met the ministers to convey this. But they are in a jittery as things are moving to an end,” an AIADMK MLA told THE WEEK on conditions of anonymity.
