Three injured in clash at O Panneerselvam's house

Chennai: A minor clash broke out at residence of the former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam in Greenways Road, which left three persons, including a cop, injured on Thursday. The ensuing chaos was brought to an end by the police personnel on duty. The cops chased away the mob, which resorted to stoning on the congregation at Panneerselvam's house.

Stones were pelted in two waves - before the intervention of cops, who pushed the Panneerselvam's supporters to safety inside the gates, and the second wave came during which the mob hurled several pet bottles at the cops and a few enraged Pannerselvam supporters who stayed outside.  The injured trio includes Balaji, a supporter of Panneerselvam, and Sankara Narayanan an armed reserve constable. The injured were rushed to the Government Royapettah Hospital for treatment. Subsequently, the security was stepped up in the location.

The clash comes a few hours after Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao invited Edappadi K Palanisamy to form the government. The charged up atmosphere in Panneerselvam for over a week had lost its sheen soon after the Governor's decision. While Paneerselvam supporters were eagerly waiting to hear the future course of action, the swearing in ceremony was completed at Raj Bhavan with CM-designate Edappadi K Palanisami and his cabinet ministers.

The stray incident caused flutter. The tension was toned down with former minister K.P. Munusamy urging the congregation and the assailants not to resort to any violence. “We are all from one political party. We are not angry for what you did. We also know who instigated you. Our efforts are to prevent (AIADMK general secretary) V.K Saiskala and her clan from taking over the state administration and party reins. They instigated this,” Munusamy said, in his address, to the gathering, flanked by one of the injured man.

MLAs taken in ministers’ SUVs to city and back:

All the AIADMK MLAs staying at a private resort in Kuvathur off East Coast Road were transported in SUVs along with 29 ministers on Thursday afternoon to Raj Bhavan in a secured manner, to attend the swearing in ceremony of new chief minister Edappadi K Palanisami and his council of ministers. Three private buses, in which the MLAs were taken to the resort on last Wednesday night, were asked to follow the ministers' convoy to Raj Bhavan on Thursday. All the MLAs were staying in the resort for more than a week since then.

Their stay in the resort had had attracted lot of media attention after O Panneerselvam camp accused the rival side that the MLAs were illegally confined. After the swearing in ceremony, except few ministers, all the MLAs went back to resort to start their victory celebration in style. “Some MLAs traveled in the luxury bus as ministers were held up in city for some other works. But most of the ministers had reached by 8.30 pm to be part of the celebrations,” a source said.

Most of the MLAs had a relaxed look in their face as they went back to the resort to spend two more night there. All the MLAs are expected to be transported to the state assembly on Saturday, when the new CM will be facing the floor test to prove his majority.