I am not TTV's sleeper cell, says Sellur Raju

Tiruchy: Having embarrassed hief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam by praising V. K. Sasikala, cooperatives minister Sellur K. Raju on Monday rejected suggestions that he was part of the “sleeper cell” that rebel leader TTV Dhinakaran keeps harping on every now and then.

The minister asserted that he would continue to work under the guidance of the EPS-OPS duo and said his statement that Sasikala was the “saviour” of post-Jayalalithaa AIADMK was made in his personal capacity and it should not be construed that he is part of the “sleeper cell” that would come out when a trust vote happens on the floor of the Assembly.

“Am I the sleeper cell? No way… I am not sleeper cell. I stand by whatever I said about Chinamma. She was responsible for installing the present AIADMK government and there is no second opinion. But my comments have been blown out of proportion and taken out of context,” Raju told reporters here.

As a “true soldier” of late J. Jayalalithaa, Raju said, he has accepted the leadership of EPS and OPS and would continue to work under them to take the party and the government to greater heights.

Raju took pains to clarify that he was not part of the “sleeper cell” that Dhinakaran keeps harping on whenever he is posed a question on whether he has the numbers to topple the EPS-OPS Government. On his part, Dhinakaran said Raju was not a “sleeper cell.”

“How can I reveal the names of those in sleeper cells? Sleeper cell is a secret operation and its members would come out in public only when there is a need,” Dhinakaran said, when asked to comment on Raju's comments.

Raju also said he will not betray the AIADMK government since it was installed by late Jayalalithaa. Earlier, Raju declared open new buildings for two fair price shops at Ariyamangalam and Mahalakshmi Nagar in the city. He also held discussions with officials of cooperative departments, District Central Cooperative Banks of the Cauvery Delta region for disbursing crop loan and reviewing the stock position of agricultural inputs.