TTV Dhinakaran has hit back at the AIADMK General Council for expelling him and VK Sasikala from the posts of Deputy General Secretary and Acting General Secretary. TTV threatened the MLAs who attended the GC meeting that he will “send them all home”.
TTV held a news conference soon after the AIADMK General Council meeting held at the Sreevaru Venkatachalapathy Palace in Vanagaram, TTV slammed his detractors for claiming that he had joined hands with the DMK.
He criticised Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Deputy CM O Panneerselvam for saying that they will reclaim the Two Leaves symbol. “They're now saying they'll reclaim the Two Leaves symbol. It was lost because of OPS,” said TTV.
The former Deputy General Secretary alleged that EPS and OPS had engineered their expulsion because, “They are afraid Sasikala and I will stop their corruption.”
Issuing a challenge to Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, TTV said, “When he knows he doesn’t have the numbers, he should resign as Chief Minister if he has the guts and ask the MLAs to elect him as Chief Minister again.”
Affirming that he will establish ‘Amma’s aatchi’ (Amma’s rule) again, he added, “The Chief Minister doesn't have 117 people, and everyone knows this. The Governor is hesitating for some reason. They don't want to go home by themselves, so I'll send them home.”
TTV declared that he and his supporters will wait for three weeks for Governor Vidyasagar Rao to take action, and then take a decision on further action. “We'll wait for the Governor to act. After that, we'll decide the next course of action. We will do anything to save the party,” he said.
Among its resolutions, the AIADMK General Council also decided that all the powers of the General Secretary would be transferred to OPS and EPS, who will head the party's Steering Committee. It was also decided that former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will remain the General Secretary of the party.
Speaking at the General Council meeting, Deputy Chief Minister OPS said that the unified party will retrieve the two leaves symbol, and clarified that the office bearers appointed by Jayalalithaa will continue in those posts.