Chennai: Charging AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala with trying to unseat Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam from his post and seize power, leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin said the resignation of Sheela Balakrishnan from the post of advisor to Chief Minister appears to be the beginning of the cold war between the two leaders.
Stalin said the attempt by the AIADMK leadership is paralysing the state government administration and asked Panneerselvam not to worry about his post and ensure that government administration functions as per his directions alone.
The instability is reflected in police disrupting the peaceful jallikattu protests at Marina, besides issues like checkdams across Palar river, setting up of Cauvery Management Board and confusion in enacting a law against Neet.
Citing the construction of checkdams and raising the height of existing checkdams by Andhra Pradesh government across the river Palar, Stalin said Andhra Pradesh government is violating the 1892 agreement between Chennai and Mysore which barred the state from building checkdams across the Palar, which is an inter-state river. The AIADMK government had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Andhra Pradesh government's move and it had not obtained an order to prevent the construction.
The Chief Minister should not worry about his post and focus his attention on people's issues, the problems caused to Tamil Nadu by neighbouring states, the Central government schemes and assistance that should be obtained. The DMK working president said Panneerselvam should take action to protect the interests of Tamil Nadu.
Earlier, even during his speech on the motion to thank Governor's address, Stalin had greeted the new Chief Minister and team. There were no attacks by the DMK on the Chief Minister, but on the other hand, the DMK leaders including Stalin objected to praising Sasikala in the Assembly.
DMK deputy floor leader K. Duraimurugan, went a step further and said his party would support Panneerselvam’s government and the Chief Minister needs to only take care of the ‘sakthi’ behind him.
Stalin is treating Panneerselvam with respect, but had not mentioned the name of Sasikala till now, in an obvious refusal to acknowledge her as a leader. Even when Sasikala issued a statement against Stalin, the DMK leader did not respond to the AIADMK general secretary’s statement and chose to reply through a junior leader.
