CHENNAI:In a bid to embarrass the VK Sasikala faction of the AIADMK and the Edappadi Palaniswami government, dethroned Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Friday urged the Centre to order a judicial probe to unearth the mystery shrouding former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s death, who spent her last 75 days in hospital bed away from the public eye.
“There is a strong suspicion lingering in the minds of the party cadre and the general public about Jayalalithaa’s death,” Panneerselvam said, addressing a gathering of his supporters at a function to mark Jayalalithaa’s 69th birth anniversary at Tondiarpet in RK Nagar Assembly constituency that she represented.
“To unveil the mystery, the Centre and the governments must order a judicial probe,” he said. Public will, according to him, was in favour of taking stringent action against those responsible for her death.
Will liberate party
Taking a vow to end of the domination of Sasikala and her family through a ‘Dharma Yudham’, Panneerselvam lamented that the party and the government had slipped into the hands of those who were thrown out by Jayalalithaa.
“The party and the government have gone into the hands those who were thrown out by Jayalalithaa. We will liberate the party and the government from the clutches of that family. The fight for Dharma has never ended in failure; it always has won the war,” he asserted.
TTV’s locus standi
Later, talking to reporters, Panneerselvam, who made a surprise revolt against Sasikala on February 7, questioned the locus standi of TTV Dinakaran, the newly appointed deputy general secretary of AIADMK led by Sasikala, in offering an olive branch to the rebels to return to the parent body.