Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. | Express File Photo

Panneerselvam camp plans to hold public interactions to revive the fight in Tamil Nadu

Saturday's trust vote won by Palanisamy, who had the backing of the party's general secretary V K Sasikala, has been a huge setback for Panneerselvam.

CHENNAI: A day after Edappadi K Palanisamy won the confidence vote in the Tamil Nadu state assembly, the rival camp in the ruling AIADMK party led by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has decided to hold interactions with the public and party cadres as their next course of action.

Since Saturday night, the core team in Panneerselvam's camp have been holding discussions on what their next strategy should be. Saturday's trust vote won by Palanisamy, who had the backing of the party's general secretary V K Sasikala, has been a huge setback for Panneerselvam.

Only 11 MLAs from the AIADMK party supported the rebellion by Panneerselvam and voted against Palanisamy.

"This public interaction is to save the AIADMK party and the government," Ma Foi Pandiarajan, former minister for education and an important leader in the Panneerselvam camp, told Express. "MGR and Amma (former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa) have made so many sacrifices to build this party and now it has been completely captured by Sasikala and her family. This is not the way to keep Amma's legacy alive," he said.

Pandiarajan said so far 8,000 party cadre and leaders have signed up to support their cause. When asked what went wrong yesterday, he said a secret ballot would have changed the scenario. "There should have been a secret ballot yesterday," he opined.

"The result would have been different. So many people are being intimidated (by pro-Sasikala leaders) which is why they couldn't support OPS," he said.