Chennai: Continuing his defiance, O Panneerselvam on Wednesday declared he was “still the Chief Minister” and that he would prove his majority only on the floor of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, where he is confident of establishing his strength among legislators.
“I am still the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The Governor, while accepting my resignation, asked me to continue as Chief Minister and I am doing my duty,” Mr Panneerselvam declared at a press conference on Wednesday morning, a day after he raised a revolt against AIADMK general secretary V. K. Sasikala accusing her of forcing his resignation.
Though only five MLAs and Rajya Sabha MP V. Maitreyan expressed support to him by calling on him at this residence at the Greenways Road here, the Chief Minister claimed, “a situation would emerge where all MLAs would support me on the floor of the House.”
Responding to a volley of questions through the day, Mr Panneerselvam said there was no “truth” in the allegations by Ms Sasikala that the DMK was behind his rebellion.
“Sasikala should explain the basis of her charge that DMK is behind my rebellion. I was never cordial with DMK and a look back into the history will make it clear. There is no relationship at all between the DMK and me,” Mr Panneerselvam said.
“Is smiling (at Stalin) such a big crime? The only difference between humans and animals is that while humans can smile, animals can’t,” the Chief Minister said, responding to Ms Sasikala’s charge that Mr Stalin and Mr Panneerselvam were smiling at each other during the just concluded Assembly session.
He also said he would consider withdrawing his resignation if the need arose and contended that Sasikala had no powers to sack him from the post of party treasurer. “No one in Tamil Nadu has the right to remove me from the post of Treasurer which was given to me by late Amma,” the Chief Minister said, adding that Mrs Sasikala was “just temporary general secretary of the AIADMK.”
The Chief Minister also extended an invitation to late Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar and said he would have no problems in working with her.
Never met Jaya in Apollo: OPS
Chennai: Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Wednesday said he could not meet his late mentor J. Jayalalithaa “even once” when she was hospitalised for 75 days.
“For 75 days I went to the hospital every day. But I could not meet her even once. Even my family members used to ask me every day whether I met Amma. At one stage, I even thought of lying that I had met her. But I did not do so,” Panneerselvam said, adding that he was always told then she was fine.
Five MLAs backing OPS
Five legislators had come forward to support Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam who is asserting that he would prove his majority in the House.
The MLAs included V.C. Arukutty (Kavundampalayam), K. Manickam (Sholavandan), Manoranjitham (Uthangarai), A. Manoharan (Vasudevanallur) and S. P. Shanmuganathan (Srivaikuntam). MP V. Maitreyan, former MP Manoj Pandian, Former Assembly Speaker P.H. Pandian and former ministers Nathan R. Viswanathan and K.P. Munusamy are also supporting him.
