Palaniswami will face the same fate as Nitish Kumar, says Stalin
Palaniswami will face the same fate as Nitish Kumar, says Stalin
M.U.H
08/03/202639
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin on Saturday said AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami will “face the same fate as Nitish Kumar”, who has decided to quit as Bihar Chief Minister recently.
Addressing the party cadre during the induction of former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and his supporters into the DMK at a public meeting in Madurai on Saturday, Mr. Stalin said the BJP would “suck the blood” of the AIADMK, as it had done with Mr. Kumar.
“The same fate will befall Mr. Palaniswami in the coming days. According to the information I have received, the BJP plans to replace Mr. Palaniswami with someone else as the AIADMK general secretary,” he alleged. Had he not accepted their invitation for the alliance with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the BJP would have orchestrated the replacement a while ago, he added.
Criticising the hike in cylinder prices ahead of Women’s Day, Mr. Stalin said the prices that were reduced for the 2024 election had now been increased again. He stated that it was the DMK government that acted with the welfare of women in mind, having provided ₹5,000 to 1.31 crore women as part of the three-month advance payment under the Magalir Urimai Thittam along with a summer special grant. He also declared that in the ‘Dravidian Model 2.0’ rule, they would increase the Magalir Urimai Thittam amount to ₹2,000.
Speaking about Mr. Panneerselvam, Mr. Stalin said: “He never committed any betrayal when former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa seated him in her Chief Ministerial chair twice, and he handed back the seat entrusted to him.”
Comparing him with Mr. Palaniswami, Mr. Stalin commented, “If Mr. Panneerselvam stands for loyalty, Mr. Palaniswami stands for betrayal.” He chided Mr. Palaniswami of ‘crawling’ at Koovathur to grab his position. “He who mortgaged the AIADMK itself to safeguard himself, will dare to do anything,” he added.
“Since the AIADMK moved to a state of doing ‘slave service’ to someone, Mr. Panneerselvam, has returned to the mother party, the DMK. I welcome him to Anna Arivalayam, the fortress of self-respect, where we travel without deviating from the Dravidian path,” he said.
Recalling Mr. Panneerselvam’s speech in the Assembly in 2008 regarding the Sri Lankan Tamil issue, the Chief Minister mentioned that the next day, the Murasoli newspaper published news referring to him as Pachai Thamizhar Panneerselvam.
He stated that it was a pleasure to see OPS [Mr. Panneerselvam], who was once praised by former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, join the DMK today.
Speaking at the induction event, Mr. Panneerselvam said Mr. Stalin embraced those who had been victimised with love and affection. “The AIADMK that was started by former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran is not there today; the AIADMK nurtured by ‘Amma’ is not there today. The AIADMK is no longer ‘Anna DMK’ (ADMK); it has today turned into and been changed into a Abagarippu DMK,” he added.
Realising that travelling further in the current AIADMK was detrimental to self-respect and contrary to Dravidianism, Mr. Panneerselvam said he had decided to join the mother party, the DMK. “I am happy to merge the Anna Dravida Munnetra Thondargal Urimai Meetpu Kazhagam into the DMK envisioned by former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai. I consider it a matter of pride to have joined the mother party,” he added.
Mr. Panneerselvam’s son and former MP O.P. Ravindranath, R. Gopalakrishnan, and former Usilampatti MLA P. Ayyappan were among those who formally joined the DMK at the public meeting.
