Chennai: The TTV Dhinakaran faction of the AIADMK met Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao on Tuesday and demanded the removal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palanisamy.
After 20 minutes of meditation at the Jayalalithaa memorial on the Marina Beach on Monday evening following marathon discussions with Dhinakaran at his Adyar residence, the MLAs asserted that none in the AIADMK have the power to remove or sack the General Secretary according to the by-laws of the party.
The meditation came about even as Dhinakaran tweeted that he has been advised by his doctors not to speak for a couple of days due to a throat infection.
“I will speak to the media on August 23,” he wrote on Twitter.
Andipatti MLA Thanga Tamilselvan said it was O Panneerselvam, Edappadi K Palanisamy and ministers like D Jayakumar who moved a resolution to appoint VK Sasikala as interim general secretary and later nominating her as the AIADMK legislature party leader.
He said they went to the meeting of the AIADMK Legislature Party on February 5 without knowing the agenda and it was Panneerselvam who proposed Sasikala’s name for the post.
“It was Panneerselvam and his MLAs who voted against this Edappadi K Palanisamy Government installed by Chinamma. Chinamma spent two days with us and elected Palanisamy as the leader of the AIADMK Legislature Party. We all voted for Palanisamy because of his nomination by Chinamma,” he said and accused the Chief Minister of “not consulting them” before admitting OPS back into the party.
The MLA said Dhinakaran has the support of 25 MLAs, but only 18 turned up at his residence expressing their supporting to him.
“Edappadi would not have won the trust vote (on February 18) if MLAs like us had not voted. He should understand that but he has joined hands with the person (Panneerselvam) who split the party, froze the “Two Leaves” symbol and called this government corrupt,” Thanga Tamilselvan said.
