Coimbatore: Expelled AIADMK spokesperson K C Palanisamy on Saturday alleged that the state government had been functioning like a puppet of the BJP which was also behind his exit. Speaking to reporters at his home here, he said chief minister E Palaniswami and deputy Panneerselvam were acting like autocrats and trying to sacrifice the party for their personal gains.
Palanisamy had on Friday said that the AIADMK would support a no-confidence motion against the central government if it did not set up the Cauvery Management Board. Following this, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam issued a statement later expelling him from the party. “I had spoken about the issue on Friday morning. Around afternoon, Jayakumar, Thambidurai and Vaigaichelvan said
EPS and OPS will decide on the issue. It was only in the evening, after there was pressure from the Centre, that I was removed from the party,” he claimed.
Palanisamy, who had supported OPS when he revolted against Sasikala, said OPS had stated recently that he had agreed for the merger only because Modi had asked him to do so. “OPS says he had acted according to the advice of someone from another party. Is this not against AIADMK?” he said. Palanisamy said that according to an RTI reply, the election commission was still considering the amendment made by EPS and OPS to the party’s by-laws by which they had become the coordinator and joint coordinator of the party. They were misleading party workers, he alleged. He also claimed that there was a strong bonhomie between OPS and EPS and they were misleading party workers by putting up an image that there was friction between them.
Palanisamy said that only if AIADMK voted in favour of a no-confidence motion against the ruling BJP was there a possibility of the Cauvery Management Board being set up. “Earlier MGR and Jayalalithaa had fought for the state’s right on the Cauvery issue. I had made the statement based on that only,” he said and added that the party must make its stance clear on the Cauvery issue.
He said that there had been no action against ministers who made critical comments on the party leadership. “Earlier, a minister, when commenting on the verdict in the disproportionate assets case, had said Jayalalithaa too would have been expelled from the party just like Sasikala, had she been alive. What action was taken against him?” he said.
