Minutes before the Madras high court declined to stay conduct of the general council and executive committee meeting of the EPS-OPS faction of AIADMK, sidelined leader TTV Dhinakaran on Monday threatened to topple the seven-month-old Edappadi K Palaniswami government, if the chief minister was not replaced.
With the stage set for the unified group to oust V K Sasikala as general secretary, Dhinakaran trained his guns on EPS and O Panneerselvam. “Justice is on our side.History has not seen traitors succeeding. In 10 days, Edappadi’s game will be over,” he told reporters in Madurai.
The leader had met governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao last week, demanding a floor test against Palaniswami, saying he had fallen short of the majority mark of 117 in the 234-member House. Three more MLAs joined his camp and stepped up pressure on the governor.
Dhinkaran said his camp enjoyed the support of workers and would reclaim the party by legally facing the challenges in the Election Commission. After the demise of MGR, his wife, Janaki Ramachandran could not succeed in running the government. Whereas, after Jayalalithaa’s demise, Sasikala established the government first with OPS and later EPS.”Everywhere we go, people ask us to send OPS and EPS home. With the blessings of Sasikala, I will ensure that the government is toppled, certainly for the welfare of the people and cadres and to safeguard the party,” the leader said, amid cheers from supporters.
On the general council meeting called by Palaniswami, Dhinakaran alleged it was a fraudulent move by his rivals with an agenda to deceive party workers and public. “Their days are numbered. We will make sure the head is removed and replaced with someone else. If not, we will remove the government and establish a new one,” he said, pointing out that the EPS camp had earlier endorsed the leadership of Sasikala and himself through affidavits.
The camp prior to the merger had filed nearly 6.8 lakh affidavits before the Election Commission to retrieve the party name and symbol. “This is not Amma’s government, but that of traitors,” Dhinakaran said.
He accused OPS of craving for power and position.”He talked about `dharma yudh’ against the EPS government and dubbed it cor rupt until recently.He cannot sleep or breathe easy if he is not given power,” he said.
