Will fight Mannargudi family till Jaya regime is restored, says Panneerselvam

"Let us all together stop the party and government from going into the hands of a single family again. Let us form a people's government again in sync with the aspirations of people and till then this struggle will continue," he said.
 

"Till such time Puratchi Thalaivi Amma's regime is restored, our struggle (Dharma Yudh) will continue," he said in his first reaction after Governor C Vidyasagar Rao invited Sasikala loyalist and AIADMK Legislature Party Leader Edappadi Palaniswami to form the government.
 

Flanked by his party leaders, including former state minister K P Munusamy, he thanked his followers and people for supporting him.

 

Mr Panneerselvam, who had stepped in as stop-gap Chief Minister twice when Jayalalithaa was alive, said, "We will win this struggle with the support of Amma's followers".

In a press release later, in an apparent reference to his breaking ranks with Ms Sasikala on February 7, he said, "We started a struggle to see that AIADMK does not become a property of a single family."

 

He said he also chose to rebel with an aim of ensuring that "Amma's regime does not become a government to guard the interests of a family by diverting from its path of people's welfare".

 

Stressing that people and party cadres gave huge support to his "struggle," he said people were agitated that a government is being formed only on the basis of "number of legislators forcibly confined (at a resort)".

 

He said the action to install such a regime was without understanding the feelings of the people and party workers.
 

Later Mr Panneerselvam paid floral tributes at the burial site of Jayalalithaa and said he along with his have vowed to oust the dispensation led by Ms Sasikala and his family and replace it by "Amma's government".

 

He, along with his supporters, including former Minster K Munisamy, took a vow to "reinstate Amma's regime".

"It is the Sasikala's family which has now taken over the reins of the government. We have received the blessings of 'Amma' to oust Sasikala's regime and reinstate Amma's government," he said.

 

Panneerselvam said he and his supporters have vowed to reinstate "Amma's government", and "rallies" of voters would be taken out in all the constituencies tomorrow to urge the MLAs to take a 'fair decision' over voting in the assembly, scheduled for February 18.

 

He claimed that the Palaniswami-led government "does not enjoy" the support of people and party cadres.

 

"They (people and cadres) do not like this regime and this government will be overthrown by the people soon," he claimed.

• Panneerselvam dharma yudh
• Mannargudi family
• Sasikala family
• Sasikala in jail
• Parappana Agrahara
• Edappadi Palanisamy