Chennai: AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran claimed on Friday Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam wanted to meet him in September in a bid to "oust" Chief Minister K Palaniswami but the ruling AIADMK rejected it and hit back accusing him of trying to create confusion in the party.
Dhinakaran, who has been vowing to unseat Palaniswami since he was sidelined last year, also said Panneerselvam offered to make him the chief minister. The AIADMK rubbished the claims, with Electricity Minister P Thangamani coming up with a counter charge saying Dhinakaran recently offered to merge his Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and a spokesperson accusing the sidelined leader of making such comments to keep his flock together.
Dhinakaran said Panneerselvam had met him in July last year and sent a word through a common friend that he wanted to meet him again in September-end this year.
However, he refused to meet him in September, said Dhinakaran, nephew of ousted leader V K Sasikala.
"He (Panneerselvam) wanted to meet me to oust the chief minister," Dhinakaran told reporters a day after his close aide and one of the disqualified MLAs Thanga Tamilselvan made similar claim during a TV debate.
Panneerselvam, who had merged his faction in August last year with the group led by Palaniswami, had informed he was ready to "oust" Palaniswami and promote Dhinakaran to a "significant" post, he maintained. He claimed that during the meeting last year, the deputy chief minister had regretted revolting against then interim general secretary Sasikala and subsequent criticism against the family.
Dhinakaran said he was revealing the information now since Panneerselvam was being critical of him in public even while "trying for a rapprochement" and asserted that the latter cannot deny meeting him.
"His only interest is to become chief minister. He tried it last week also. I wanted to put a full stop to all of it, so I revealed (information about the meeting)," he said when asked about the motive of Panneerselvam in seeking the meeting. He also claimed Thangamani and Minister for Municipal Administration SP Velumani, besides a few other MLAs, wanted to join Panneerselvam after Palaniswami was elected chief minister in February 2017 but he had prevented that.
Thangamani said Panneerselvam had revolted against the "very family," referring to that of Sasikala, and joined hands with Palaniswami to deliver a pro-poor government.