CHENNAI: THE ongoing slanging match between the two AIADMK factions reached a new level on Tuesday with Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam linking rebel leader O Panneerselvam with controversial businessman Shekhar Reddy who is now under arrest.
“Who introduced Shekhar Reddy to Tamil Nadu? It was Panneerselvam. When he was PWD minister, he awarded contracts to Reddy. When (party icon Jayalalithaa) was in prison, Panneerselvam hastily appointed him as member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam board. Reddy and Panneerselvam posed for a photographer like Ashokan and Nambiar (Tamil cinema villains of yesteryear). Why has no inquiry happened into that aspect?” snapped Shanmugam on Tuesday, when asked for comments about reports that Reddy, now under the scrutiny of the income-tax department and the Enforcement Directorate, had connections with State ministers.
Elsewhere, Finance Minister D Jayakumar, a member of the merger negotiation committee from the ruling faction, attacked senior rebel leader S Semmalai, his peer on the rebels’ talks committee, for his comments that 35 MLAs and 12 ministers were in touch with the rebels.
“Semmalai’s remark is akin to that of plugging a hole in a boat using salt. From headquarters office-bearers, district secretaries, MPs and MLAs and others in the party and government, we stand united. We are firm that the next general elections should be held only in 2021,” Jayakumar claimed.
After deciding to merge, the two factions drifted apart, with no progress made other than forming a seven-member panel each for talks. But since then, it has not moved an inch, except the sniping-conciliation routine by the chosen leaders.
This time, it was left to the parliamentary party leader M Thambidurai from the faction led by the Chief Minister ‘Edappadi’ K Palaniswami, and K Pandiarajan, former minister and now a key man in the Panneerselvam-led rebel camp.
Merger talks would take place in a cordial atmosphere soon, repeated Thambidurai yet again, while Pandiarajan described the two groups as brothers whose coming together would only be good for the party and the State.
“We don’t have any suspicions about the other faction. But some happenings have sowed seeds of suspicion,” he said, reiterating their demand for investigation into Jaya’s death and ousting general secretary V K Sasikala and her family members from the AIADMK.