THENI: On the first anniversary of his famous revolt against V K Sasikala on the sands of Marina, deputy chief minister O. Panneerselvam on Wednesday asserted that his dharma yudham was successful since the two warring factions came together after the Mannargudi family was been kept out.
On this very day a year ago, Panneerselvam came to the J. Jayalalithaa memorial on Marina beach unannounced, meditated for more than 45 minutes and openly revolted against the then AIADMK legislature party leader V. K. Sasikala, who was hoping to be sworn in as Chief Minister.
After the revolt and Sasikala's conviction in disproportionate assets case that landed her in Parapana Agrahara prison, Panneerselvam was left with just 11 MLAs and found it difficult to bring down the Edappadi K. Palaniswami Government. Finally, Panneerselvam agreed to merge his faction with the EPS camp in August after a deal was brokered by the BJP.
After the merger, Panneerselvam joined the government as deputy chief minister and was made coordinator of the AIADMK.
"For sure, the objective is fulfilled. A stable government is in place in Tamil Nadu. We have come together and a stable regime is on," he said, apparently referring to sacking of Sasikala as interim general secretary by the general council of AIADMK in August last year.
"We too had stressed that the party should continue to be so (giving prominence to cadres rather than a family)," he said.
Meanwhile, former minister and Panneerselvam loyalist K. P. Munusamy told reporters in Chennai on Wednesday that the dharma uudham is over and under the leadership of two big leaders the party and government are functioning well.
"We have joined. Now the term dharma yudham will only mean service to people and the country. Leaders and cadres of the party will work for people with devotion," he added.
