With just a day left for filing of nominations tp Erode (East) bypoll, former Chief Minister and expelled AIADMK leader O Pannerselvam has announced that their candidate Sethilmurugan will withdraw from the contest. It effectively means that the candidate announced by Edappadi K Palaniswami, Thennarasu will get the Two Leaves symbol.
After Tamizh Magan Hussai and MP C Ve Shanmugam left for Delhi to submit the selection of general council members to the Election Commission of India (ECI), OPS held an emergency discussion with his supporters for close to one hour in his residence. After the meeting, former minister and OPS supporter K P Krishnan told reporters that their candidate would be withdrawn for the good of two leaves symbol.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting, K P Krishnan, said the decision has been taken to ensure that they are not held responsible if the Two Symbol is frozen by Election Commission.
He added that their support is for Two Leaves symbol and not for the candidate put up by EPS. He surprised everyone stating than theit team would campaign for the symbol’s success in the bypoll. This is seen as a major victory for Edappadi Palaniswami.
The stand of team OPS was in stark contrast with the announcement made on Sunday as they said that they would approach the ECI for remedy for the correspondence sent by Tamizh Magan Hussain. By announcing the withdrawal of their candidate, they have backtracked from the previous stand.