'Panneerselvam resigned as Tamil Nadu CM due to pressure from his colleagues, not Sasikala': TTV Dhinakaran

Chennai: The decision to replace O Panneerselvam with V K Sasikala as the Chief Minister in February 2017, two months after the death of J Jayalalithaa, was taken by the former’s cabinet colleagues who believed that the latter would be well-placed in keeping the AIADMK united, not by anyone else, according to AMMK chief T T V Dhinakaran.

Dhinakaran, the nephew of Sasikala, also said the family was against his aunt succeeding Jayalalithaa as the (interim) general secretary of the AIADMK in December 2016 and as Chief Minister in February 2017 but she succumbed to pressure from senior leaders of the party.

He strongly dismissed suggestions that it was the Sasikala family that forced OPS to resign from the post. This is probably the first time that Dhinakaran has given a detailed account of what happened in the AIADMK after Jayalalithaa’s death.

The AMMK chief also said O Panneerselvam would have been sworn-in as the Chief Minister had he not rebelled against Sasikala, who was elected as the AIADMK legislature party leader but was not invited by the then Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to form the government. After the Supreme Court convicted Sasikala in a DA case, Dhinakaran said, Edappadi K Palaniswami was chosen as the legislature party leader only because he was the senior-most in the Cabinet after Panneerselvam, not due to “other reasons.”

Dhinakaran was interacting with senior journalists, including this DH correspondent, at an event organized by The Debate, a Tamil YouTube news channel.

“Neither she (Sasikala) nor our family were interested in her taking the formal political plunge. She took over as AIADMK chief after senior leaders made a beeline to the Poes Garden residence and requested her. We did advise her against the move to become CM, but it was senior ministers who exerted pressure on OPS to make way for her (Sasikala),” Dhinakaran said.

He was asked whether Sasikala aspiring to be the Chief Minister was the reason for the problems faced by him and the AIADMK post-Jayalalithaa.

Dhinakaran went on to add that Panneerselvam reminded his colleagues at Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence on February 5, 2017, that he took over as the CM only at the insistence of the senior ministers and after Sasikala rejected his demand to take over.

“It was the senior colleagues who felt my aunt should be both the CM and AIADMK chief. They were the ones who put pressure on OPS. The only question that OPS asked was what changed in two months that he was being asked to quit. But the ministers were firm on their decision,” Dhinakaran said.

“As tempers ran high, I made OPS sit on a chair and asked him to listen to them and take a call. That is when he called his PA and asked him to get the resignation letter ready. This is the reality... whether you believe or not is up to you,” Dhinakaran said.

Speaking about the rebellion against Palaniswami government by 18 MLAs who owed allegiance to him, Dhinakaran claimed his intention was not to dislodge the AIADMK dispensation but only to drive home the legislators’ point that they did not have confidence in the then Chief Minister.

He also dismissed suggestions that the BJP used pressure tactics to bring him back to the NDA. “I have never feared for cases. I have spent several months in jail, and I never succumb to pressure. Despite quitting NDA, my first choice for alliance has always been NDA as I can never join the DMK alliance. If NDA did not take me in, I might have aligned with actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam,” he added.