10 DMK MLAs in touch with AIADMK: Palaniswami

The AIADMK leader made the remark on the eve of his first visit to the party headquarters, which was vandalized allegedly by OPS supporters on July 11

Leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Edappadi K Palaniswami, on Wednesday claimed that 10 MLAs belonging to the ruling DMK “were in touch” with the AIADMK. Palaniswami’s response comes day after DMK MP DNV S Senthilkumar claimed that three senior functionaries of the AIADMK are likely to switch over to his party soon.

“It is not true. Ten of their (DMK) MLAs are talking to us. The ten MLAs are in touch with us,” Palaniswami told reporters near Chennai, when asked to comment on speculation about AIADMK MLAs planning to join the DMK.

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Palaniswami’s remarks, political observers said, looked more like a “tit for tat” than a serious comment. Senthilkumar has been claiming for some time now that many AIADMK MLAs are planning to dump the party and join the DMK.

The AIADMK leader made the remark on the eve of his first visit to the party headquarters, which was vandalized allegedly by O Panneerselvam's supporters on July 11, on Thursday.

DMK hit back immediately with its spokesperson R S Bharathi claiming that 50 of the 66 AIADMK MLAs are in touch with the party to jump ship. “Let EPS first release the list of DMK MLAs who are in touch with the AIADMK. After that, I will release our list,” he said.