Tamil Nadu assembly polls: No place for O Panneerselvam, VK Sasikala in AIADMK, says EPS after meeting Amit Shah in Delhi

CHENNAI: After a late-night meeting with Union Home minister Amit Shah at the latter’s residence in New Delhi, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday categorically ruled out the reinduction of expelled leaders O Panneerselvam and V K Sasikala into the party.

“There is no place for OPS and Sasikala in the AIADMK. I made this clear on multiple occasions, and the party’s stand remains firm,” Palaniswami said when asked whether the expelled leaders would be taken back ahead of the Assembly polls. He made this remark while addressing the mediaperson at the Delhi airport.

He also asserted that Shah would not interfere in the AIADMK’s internal affairs, noting that the Union Home minister made this clear when the alliance was revived in April last year.

Ruling out any alliance-related discussions during the meeting, which commenced at about 10.20 and continued till late night, EPS said, “We did not talk about alliance issues. The discussion was limited to the prevailing political situation in Tamil Nadu.”

Calling the AIADMK-led front a “victorious alliance”, EPS said the PMK joined the combine and asserted that more parties would come on board to unseat the DMK govt in the forthcoming Assembly polls. “Our alliance will win a larger number of seats,” he said.

Meanwhile, he evaded a direct response to a question on whether T T V Dhinakaran’s AMMK would be part of the alliance, offering an inconclusive remark instead. “Only if secrecy is maintained will a political move have merit,” he said, without confirming or denying the possibility.

Rebutting Chief minister Stalin’s remark that the AIADMK was submissive to the BJP, and that the forthcoming Assembly polls would decide whether TN would be ruled by its own people or from Delhi, EPS said the AIADMK shared the same view. “The State should be governed by its own people, not from Delhi,” he said, and justified it by stating that it is the AIADMK heading the NDA alliance in TN, and he said that his party would form a govt of its own.

Charging the DMK with running a negative campaign, EPS said the ruling party had nothing to criticise the AIADMK for during its tenure till 2021 and therefore resorted to such rhetoric to undermine the AIADMK’s alliance with the BJP. He alleged that the DMK was attempting to build a narrative by branding the BJP as a “communal force”, and recalled that the DMK earlier allied with the BJP and even was part of the Union Cabinet.

He also took a swipe at Chief minister M K Stalin’s Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme, terming it a “political gimmick” aimed at misleading govt employees ahead of the elections. Palaniswami further alleged that the DMK govt indulged in corruption to the tune of Rs 4 lakh crore.