Erode East Bypoll loss: OPS attacks 'traitor' Palaniswami

Chennai: Deposed AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam on Friday launched a scathing attack on the party's interim chief K Palaniswami for the Erode East bypoll loss, calling him a "traitor", who was heading an "authoritarian" group.

OPS, as Panneerselvam is known, squarely blamed Palaniswami for the party's poor electoral show.

The Congress bettering its victory margin from 9,000 in 2021 to the 67,000 now showed that the main opposition party AIADMK was in a "weakened position," he said.

In a fiercely contested Erode East bypoll, Congress' EVKS Elangovan drubbed AIADMK's K S Thennarasu. The counting of votes polled on February 27 was taken up on Thursday and the DMK-backed Elangovan emerged victorious.

He recalled he had withdrawn the candidate proposed by his faction "on the advice of the Supreme Court" and with the aim of securing the popular Two Leaves symbol of the party for the bypoll.

Further, Palaniswami also failed to capitalise on the "heavy public discontent" against the ruling DMK and worse so, the party has suffered an "unprecedented defeat," he added.

"...under these circumstances, if the AIADMK has lost means, the reason is that people have not accepted the traitor called Mr Edappadi K Palaniswami," Panneerselvam added.

The party lost becuase "people identified" by late party stalwarts, MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa were being booted out by Palaniswami, who has kept near him, a group of persons "singing paeans" to him and the party should take the defeat as a lesson.

A need has arisen to take all concerned along and "let me tell that all efforts to secure victory in the 40 seats (39 in TN and one in Puducherry) in the coming Lok Sabha polls by safeguarding the party bylaws, gaining people's trust and taking the party forward in the path laid down by MGR and Amma (Jayalalithaa) will be taken," Panneerselvam added.