Tamil Nadu: Amid feud between AIADMK chief Sasikala and former CM O Panneerselvam, Congress blames BJP for mess

At a time when VK Sasikala, aka Sasikala Natarajan, and O Panneerselvam are feuding over who followed the ideology of J Jayalalithaa better and should therefore head the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and become Tamil Nadu's chief minister, the Congress has blamed the Central government in general and the BJP in particular for the chaos in the state.

Also read: Tamil Nadu: AIADMK proposes, Sasikala disposes of Panneerselvam; Twitter rebounds with 'paneer' jokes

Developments since morning

The AIADMK and Tamil Nadu have been on a roller-coaster ride since Wednesday (February 8) morning. For starters, Panneerselvam told reporters at his residence that he would withdraw his resignation if the AIADMK members asked him, never mind that it has already been accepted by Governor C Vidyasagar Rao. He also said he would get Amma's death probed if he was made the chief minister, and that he was also open to taking the political support of Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar if the need arose.

Sasikala, after a meeting with party members, told reporters that Panneerselvam had "connived" with the Opposition — the DMK — and needed to be removed. Meanwhile, she also canned the AIADMK's IT wing secretary G Ramachandran for "anti-party activities."

Congress blames BJP

Meanwhile, the Congress took to blaming the BJP and the government it leads at the Centre for the current muddle in Tamil Nadu. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said on Twitter: "As Governor refuses to conduct swearing in, an outgoing Tamil Nadu CM rebels. Is PM Modi trying to bring down one more elected Govt ? [sic]" He added: "BJP has attained a mastery in art of defections, post Uttarakhand, Arunachal, Assam & UP. A repeat happening in Tamil Nadu? [sic]"

Another Congress leader, Digvijaya Singh, adopted a similar tone when taking to Twitter to write: "Political turmoil in TN and Governor playing truant. Is he fulfilling his duties ? No. He is doing politics under direction of BJP. [sic]"

Congress leader Ahmed Patel added to the narrative. "Why is the Governor not in Chennai at such a crucial political juncture ? What is Centre's real agenda? [sic]," he wrote on Twitter.