Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam expressed disappointment after Sasikala pick Edappadi Palanisamy won the vote of the confidence in the state Assembly on Saturday, by a margin of 122 to 11.
"We tried for a secret ballot, but despite our efforts it was not possible,” he said speaking to media.
Panneerselvam criticised the manner in which the Opposition DMK had been evicted from the House by the Speaker.
He also said that the MLAs who had voted against him would now have to answer to the people.
“Whether MLAs will be able to enter their constituencies after this is the question. The voters have been betrayed by MLAs. As they come out of the Assembly, they won't be able to answer questions here as well as to the people,” he asserted.
“When Amma had expelled the members, she had said that she would never allow them into the party. This dispensation does not represent Amma,” the former CM claimed.
He said that the family which Jayalalithaa had thrown out was now back in the picture thanks to Sasikala’s intervention. But he added that the fight was not over and ‘Amma’s rule will be established’.
He added that only the people would decide if the trust vote was valid.
Panneerselvam said if needed, they will apprise the Governor of the same.
"We have time to prove this. At the end only dharma will win. If need be, we will meet the Governor," he said.
“We had kept 2 demands before Speaker. One was to send MLAs to their constituencies, but Speaker didn't agree to this demand,” OPS asserted.
AIADMK MLA Pandiarajan, who is in the OPS camp, said that if a secret ballot had been held, MLAs who voted for E Palanisamy would have voted against him.
Pandiarajan warned that even if the battle had been lost, the war was still on. “The Dharma Yudh will continue. The issue will again come up in the Assembly again”, he asserted.
Sasikala's choice E Palanisamy won the trust vote after 122 AIADMK MLAs voted in his favour. 11 MLAs who had joined the OPS camp voted 'no confidence'. With DMK and Congress absent from the House, the Palanisamy camp sailed through in the 235-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
