Sasikala, for her part, remained combative. Earlier in the day, at a meeting at the party headquarters to which 130 MLAs showed up, Sasikala accused Panneerselvam of colluding with arch-rivals DMK.
Referring to the remark by DMK’s Deputy Opposition leader Durai Murugan in the Assembly last week favouring Panneerselvam as chief minister for the rest of the term (till 2021), she said: “Panneerselvam not saying anything on this and his silence showed clearly that he had joined hands with the DMK. His act had also infuriated the ministers and MLAs and they wanted me to replace him.”
She made it clear that neither she nor her party would be cowed down. She said that, for the last 33 years with Amma, she had faced several ups and downs and overcame all those.
Stalin, for his part, denied having any truck with the internal squabbles in the AIADMK. Saying he used to exchange pleasantries with Jayalalithaa, Stalin questioned if that, too, amounted to a similar crime. He said he and Panneerselvam were looking at each other and smiling in the Assembly since it was a part of his party’s “political decency.”
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