DMK working president MK Stalin hit out at former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Sunday for criticising the party’s decision to demand the removal of Jayalalithaa’s portraits from government offices.

Accusing OPS of attacking him for “selfish reasons”, Stalin hit out at the former CM for not speaking out against the mystery behind Jayalalithaa’s death before he was made to resign from his post.

Stalin’s attack on OPS comes weeks after AIADMK interim General Secretary VK Sasikala accused the former Chief Minister of rebelling against her leadership at the behest of the DMK.  

The DMK leader said, “The man who claims to care for Jayalalithaa so much, when did he decide to speak out about the mystery behind her death? Only after his post of snatched away from him, only after he meditated at Jayalalithaa's memorial under the media glare, did he get enlightened. That is, two months after Jayalalithaa died, only after he could no longer enjoy power, did he raise questions about mystery around Jayalalithaa's death.”

While Panneerselvam has urged the Centre to order a judicial probe into Jayalalithaa’s death, Stalin wondered what steps he had taken while he was Chief Minister. “At the sight of power, he forgot the person who first brought him to power,” said Stalin hitting out at the three-time CM.  

On Saturday, DMK’s Working President had written a letter to the Chief Secretary demanding that Jayalalithaa’s portraits be removed from government offices and her name be taken off government schemes as she had been convicted in the Disproportionate Assets case.  

Stalin on Sunday, however said that DMK’s demand was based on legal procedure, noting, “We don't care if AIADMK uses her photos in their offices, that's up to them. But government schemes and government offices cannot bear the name and photo of a person convicted of corruption.”