Panneerselvam reaches Tamil Nadu secretariat, to assume duties as CM

Chennai: Acting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam will on Monday leave for the state secretariat, to once again assume duties as the CM.

Before leaving for the secretariat, the caretaker CM offered prayers and met supporters at his residence.

Police personnel have been deputed in large numbers outside the secretariat.

Panneerselvam now has 7 out of 134 AIADMK MLAs on his side, in his ongoing power struggle with party general secretary Sasikala Natarajan. 11 MPs have also provided support to OPS.

Meanwhile, DMK working president MK Stalin also arrived at the Tamil Nadu secretariat on Monday.

OPS on Sunday said the 129 MLAs, staying in a private resort near Chennai, should be ‘released’ and they should meet people in their respective constituencies to get a sense of the public mood.

He said Sasikala should release the legislators from the resort and allow them to meet the people.

Panneerselvam also alleged that by shedding crocodile tears, Sasikala kept the MLAs on her side.

"Let her release them...so that they can go to their respective consitutencies and meet the people and take a good decision," he told reporters in Chennai.

Stressing that the Tamil people were well aware of the current political scenario, he said, "Not only in India, people across the globe are monitoring the situation."

Noting that he was working as per his conscience, Panneerselvam said he did not invite any of his Cabinet colleagues when he had gone to meditate at Amma's (Jayalalithaa) memorial last week after which he said he was forced to quit from the Chief Minister's post.

Asserting that he was always a staunch loyalist of Jayalalithaa, Panneerselvam said, "In the last 20 years not even once has Amma criticised me."