Peeved at CM route to airport, O Panneerselvam skips Tiruchy party meet
Chennai: The growing influence of chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami in the ruling AIADMK may have upset his deputy and his party convenor O. Panneerselvam. It is reliably learnt that the deputy chief minister was peeved when he came to know that the CM would not join him at the airport lounge to board a flight to Tiruchy as the special VIP route was arranged for him through old airport gate number 5. Palanisami, the joint convenor of the ruling AIADMK, chose to take that exclusive route to the aircraft emulating Jayalalithaa, the late AIADMK leader.
According to confidential sources at the Chennai airport, CM and deputy CM both had booked tickets to Tiruchy on the same flight (9W335) scheduled for departure at 4.30 pm, but the deputy CM chose to skip it and rescheduled his journey on a night flight.
Senior minister KA Sengottaiyan also skipped the CM's flight, but later joined the other AIADMK seniors at the airport on Thursday night and boarded the flight to Tiruchy. According to AIADMK sources, the advertisements and banners by the Tiruchy party unit also gave minimal space to the party convenor, when compared to the chief minister and his loyalists. Finally the inaugural of the AIADMK party office in Tiruchy was done without the presence of party convenor Panneerselvam. As scheduled, the chief minister went on to inaugurate the unit in Tiruchy and interacted with party workers. Senior ministers S P Velumani and P Thangamani, who are Palaniswami's confidants representing western Tamil Nadu took centre stage during the inaugural function sidelining the OPS supporters who had gathered in small numbers. "Though Annan OPS is the party convenor the due importance is not given to him as per the protocol. Being the party head, he should have inaugurated the party office in Tiruchy and such events are becoming common of late", said a former AIADMK MLA based in Tiruchy. He also added that there is nothing wrong in EPS using the VVIP protocol at airport as such a benefit is given only to chief ministers by the bureau of civil aviation security. — PTI
