Tamil Nadu Ex-Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Tuesday announced a revolt against Sasikala Natarajan and those who want her to take over as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. He alleged that he was forced to resign by Sasikala and other. He also added that he was manipulated to cooperate after Jayalalithaa’s demise and thereafter he was humiliated.

“I have resigned under duress. But I will take back my resignation if the people and the AIADMK cadres want me to do so. I will stand alone and fight this war”, Mr Panneerselvam said. His statement virtually triggering a second revolution on the sands of the Marina.

As soon as the news spread about  Panneerselvam is at Marina beach, sitting before the samadhi of late Jayalalithaa and meditating, all the media persons gathered at the beach.

The ex-Chief Minister is seen sitting with eyes closed. He only got up after more than 20 minutes wiping tears. It took a long time for the law enforcing agencies to bring the screaming TV crews to some sort of control.

"There is now no government in Tamil Nadu. They have obtained Panneerselvam’s resignation by coercion. This calls for action”, said Opposition leader M. K. Stalin, the DMK working president.

Mr Panneerselvam said, “I am here now as I was driven by Amma’s soul to come out and reveal the truth. After Amma’s condition became bad, they called me and said I should take the responsibility of the CM’s post to ensure the stability of the government and the unity in the party. I hesitated but they said people would only accept me as CM and there would complications if other names were brought up. They pressured me saying we should not pave way for those things and after a long consideration, I accepted the responsibility."

Though Mr Panneerselvam did not name anyone, everyone can guess that ‘they’ were Sasikala and her family were in who had the control at the Apollo Hospital.

Mr Panneerselvam said "after I took charge as CM, I had undertaken several important assignments such as handling the post-Vardah cyclone, the Jallikattu protest and the drinking water crisis to the best of his ability, which won all-around appreciation apart from the desired positive results. But then, even within a few days of my swear-in, there were orchestrated demands from my party ministers that Sasikala should take over as CM."

"When I told ‘them’ it was not proper for ministers to make such statements, they assured me that ‘they’ would speak to those ministers, but the clamour for Sasikala to become CM only grew louder", he said.

"If people and party cadres wish, I may withdraw the resignation", said O Panneerselvam.

VIDEO:

Panneerselvam Resigns from CM's Post, Sasikala to Likely to Become New CM

BY M. DIVYA SRI