Chennai: Adding more fuel to the already burning issue of the alleged meeting between Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam founder T T V Dhinakaran and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam ‘to topple’ Chief Minister Edappadi K Palansiwami’s government, the R K Nagar MLA today said the meeting happened last year, but he turned down the offer.
Indirectly confirming that the meeting took place, Panneerselvam has however said that it was a thing of the past.
The secret meeting which allegedly took place on the sidelines of a private function of a common friend of the leaders in the city on 12 July 2017 came to light after disqualified MLA Thanga Tamilselvan spilled the beans about it in a recent interview to a television channel.
Tamilselvan said Panneerselvam approached Dhinakaran and sought his support to form government. Addressing mediapersons today at his residence, Dhinakaran confirmed his meeting with Panneerselvam.
He said,”During the meeting Panneerselvam had said he made a mistake by joining hands with Palaniswami and wanted to merge with me. He said he would give me a prominent position which I turned down. There is no political motive behind me revealing this now. I did not take this as a big issue back then.”
Earlier in the day, Panneerselvam who was returning to Chennai from Tiruchi, has reportedly said the meeting between him and Dhinakaran was a thing of the past.
“I do not have full details about what Tamilselvan said. I will go through it and then will respond,” he said.
Dhinakaran’s statement today comes a day after State Electricity Minister P Thangamani’s response to Tamilselvan’s allegations about the meeting.
He said it was Dhinakaran who sent a messenger to Panneerselvam asking him to merge the parties. “Dhinakaran is trying to use the divide and rule policy to make a rift between Pannerselvam and Palaniswami. He is making such allegations against Panneerselvam only because he refused to accept his offer. The Deputy Chief Minister is the one who begun the Dharma Yudham against the Sasikala family and how will he hold peace talks with them again,” he said.