AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) leader O. Panneerselvam on Wednesday alleged that if T.T.V. Dhinakaran, the AIADMK (Amma) candidate in Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency managed to win in the byelection, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami would certainly be asked to step down to make way for Mr. Dhinakaran. He also criticized DMK working president M.K. Stalin for accusing him of betraying late Chief Minister Jayalalitha.
Responding to a question at a press conference about what would happen if Mr. Dhinakaran wins, Mr. Panneerselvam said, “There is no doubt. He (Palaniswami) will definitely be asked to step down (as CM)”.
When adverting to Mr. Stalin’s criticism, who alleged that the AIADMK was caught between the “FERA mafia” and the “sand mining mafia”, Mr. Panneerselvam said he had nothing to do with arrested sand mining baron Sekar Reddy or the manner in which sand mining licenses were given. OPS said “It is done through a tender process, licenses are given for yards and each licensee has to furnish details of each unit of sand they have stored".
Mr. Panneerselvam said they were hopeful of the 122 ruling party MLAs crossing over to his camp. “We are telling them to come to the side of justice,” he said, adding that if they won R.K. Nagar, most of them would come and join their camp and later in the evening, while campaigning at R.K. Nagar, Mr. Panneerselvam said there will be a change of government soon, and once that happens, the first file that will be signed will be to institute a commission of inquiry into Jayalalitha’s death.
