O Paneerselvam Calls Edappadi Palaniswami A Mouthpiece Of The DMK, Questions His Double Standards On ‘One Nation One Election’

In a scathing post on social media platform X, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader O Panneerselvam (OPS), called Edappadi Palaniswami a mouthpiece of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The X post on OPS’s official handle read, “I strongly condemn the double stand taken by Edappadi Palaniswami, acting as the mouthpiece of the DMK on the One Nation One Election policy. Puratchi Thalaivi Amma in 2016 in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly said, ‘No matter how many centuries come after me, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will work for the people,’. Mr. Edappadi Palaniswami has acted contrary to this. He has surrendered to the DMK for selfish reasons. The identity of the party has been lost. I would like to inform you that in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the treacherous group will be chased by the people to the fourth place.”

The AIADMK had supported the One Nation One Election proposal of the Modi-led NDA government. However, after the AIADMK parted ways from the alliance, Edappadi stated that they were not in favour of the proposal. 

In his press release, OPS stated that the TN Assembly had passed a resolution that they would not support the One Nation One Election policy. However, he added that ADMK member and MLA Thalavai Sundaram had stated, “We made almost 10 requests for 10 years starting in 2024 and ending in 2034. When the committee considers them, accepts them, sends it to the central government, and sees our advantages and disadvantages through it, we are “One country, one election”. When the situation arises, if the group fulfills our demands, we will definitely support it,” he said half-heartedly and vaguely.”

OPS also added that the resolution put forth by the DMK was passed unanimously with the support of the ADMK. He also alleged that with this, EPS had joined hands with the DMK, the party that Puratchi Thalaivar MG Ramachandran broke away from and fought against and AIADMK was a party raised by Amma (Jayalalithaa) to fight against the ‘evil power’. He also alleged that EPS had made a secret agreement with them and it was a sign of them going down.

This statement from OPS comes at a time when Edappadi Palaniswami appointed former minister Udayakumar as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, a position the party had been vying for over a year. 

Panneerselvam was designated the seat of Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. The sudden allocation of the position of opposition vice-president to Udayakumar the following day, with Chief Minister Stalin citing the consideration of ADMK’s request, has raised eyebrows in political circles. 

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