OPS not sidelined, says minister Vellamandi

Trichy: State tourism minister Vellamandi N Natarajan refuted claims that deputy chief minister O Paneerselvam was being sidelined in the AIADMK.

Speaking on sidelines of a meeting in Trichy, Vellamandi said there was no deliberate attempts were made to ignore the deputy CM, be it in government functions or adding his name in plaques, when asked about why an invitation was not extended to OPS for a party meeting held at Madurai on Saturday. He said that there may be some error on part of organisers, who for unavoidable reasons might have missed his name, which resulted in confusion.

Both TTV Dinakaran and untied EPS and OPS factions claim to have the support of 1.5 crore AIADMK members. When asked who actually enjoys the cadre support, Vellamandi said, “The election commission has given us the two leaves symbol and it is evident that the cadres are on our side.”

All the ministers including the CM had campaigned for TTV Dinakaran a few months ago. When asked about the same team planning to campaign for another candidate against TTV Dinakaran, the minister said that they were following the instructions of party high command. Vellamandi said that there are only a few cadres who went away from the party after being misguided by a section of people. “We are ready to have them back and there is a committee to decide on who should be added back to the party,” he added.

Asked on the comments of Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan who has been hinting on possible rift in the party between OPS and EPS faction, Natarajan said he is entitled to his own views and cannot comment on it.


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