Panneerselvam met TTV after rebellion: Tamilselvan

Dropping a bombshell, T T V Dhinakaran’s close aide Thanga Tamilselvan on Thursday claimed that deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam was trying to meet the AIADMK rebel to topple Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami's government.

Tamilselvan, who is one of the 18 MLAs disqualified by Speaker P Dhanapal for meeting the then governor CH Vidyasagar Rao and submitting a letter expressing no confidence against Palaniswami, also alleged that Panneerselvam had met Dhinakaran in July last year.

Panneerselvam had rebelled against Dhinakaran’s aunt V K Sasikala, currently serving jail term at the Parapana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru, in February 2017 leading to Palaniswami replacing him. However, he patched up with Palaniswami and later joined his cabinet as deputy chief minister.

“It is true that Panneerselvam held a meeting with TTV Dhinakaran at the house of a common friend, who is a contractor, in July 2017 and discussed toppling of the government. The CCTV footage will establish my charge and I challenge OPS to deny this?” Tamilselvan told News7 Tamil, a news channel.

He also claimed that Panneerselvam was trying to meet Dhinakaran through the same friend since last week. “Yes. OPS now wants to meet TTV again,” he charged.

There was no immediate response from the AIADMK on the charges made by Tamilselvan. The former MLA’s comments come at a time when there is intense speculation that the verdict in the disqualification of 18 MLAs will be delivered anytime.