Chennai: Even as the Tamil Nadu police on Monday submitted a report to the Madras High Court stating that AIADMK MLAs supporting general secretary VK Sasikala are not been ‘held captive’ at a beach resort near Chennai, one of the lawmakers claimed to have made a dramatic escape.
According to reports, SS Saravanan, who represents Madurai South, landed up at acting Chief Minister O Panneerselvam's residence late last night, and told reporters that he had escaped the Koovathur resort by scaling a wall.
Saravanan also claimed that he had to disguise himself to escape from the resort.
Saravanan’s escape came on a day when Sasikala visited the resort for the third time, and opted to spend the night there. Sasikala has said that the MLAs would ‘happily’ leave the resort on Tuesday after the Supreme Court verdict in a DA case against her.
With the arrival of Saravanan, the number of MLAs in the Chief Minister's camp rose to eight (including Panneerselvam), even as 12 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs are backing him.
This includes Gopalakrishnan who extended his support on Monday.
Saravanan alleged that party MLAs "were being detained" at the Koovathur resort and claimed he had given a slip by wearing a "t-shirt and Bermuda (shorts)".
"If a floor test is held today, Panneerselvam will win it. Both those who have come to his side and those who have not will vote for him," he said.
Gopalakrishnan said only Panneerselvam was the leader identified by the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and therefore he had chosen to support him.
On February 5, AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala was elected as the Legislature Party Leader, a step towards her elevation as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
However, two days later, Panneerselvam had raised a revolt against her, alleging he was forced to step down for her.
