india

Updated: Jan 21, 2019 23:40 IST

Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam today refuted DMK chief M K Stalin’s charge that he had conducted a yagna at his official chambers in the Secretariat to reclaim the chief minister’s post with divine assistance.

“If holding a yagna would make one the CM, everyone would be conducting it,” he said and asked, “Does DMK president MK Stalin believe in this?”

But despite his denial, the controversy continues to haunt him as well as the AIADMK of which Panneerselvam or OPS, is the coordinator. The party is also putting up a brave face countering reports of cracks in the party with friction between the OPS faction and that of the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) still plaguing it.

The iconic sea facing Fort St George, housing the Tamil Nadu Assembly and the Secretariat, was built by the British in 1644. It is a property of the Defence forces.

“I have only offered prayers after some repairs and expansion works were carried out in my chamber, which was nothing unusual. The windows which had decayed required replacement. As it is customary to offer a pooja after a renovation, I performed it in a simple manner,” he explained to the media in Madurai.

“No yagna was conducted,” he insisted after repeated queries from reporters.

It was Stalin who raised the issue first at a marriage function of a party functionary here on Sunday.

“The Secretariat is a secular place and it belongs to people of all faith. Holding a yagna there is against all norms. It was not his residence and OPS owes an explanation,” he had said. He also accused OPS of conducting the ritual to reclaim the Chief Ministership.

Stalin’s accusation came as an embarrassment for the AIADMK at a time when the chief minister is facing charges of having a role in the break in at Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad estate in Ooty. The accused in the case has said that EPS engineered the break in.

OPS had become the chief minister after Jayalalithaa’s death. But within months, he was ousted and EPS assumed the top post in a bloodless coup by VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran. OPS who launched a revolt from Jayalalithaa’s grave, eventually settled for the post of deputy chief minister and coordinator of the party. Sasikala who is now in jail, and Dhinakaran have been ousted from the AIADMK.

The AIADMK also dismissed Stalin’s charge. “Stalin’s charge is baseless. It is a ploy to divide the party where no division exist,” said Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar. OPS had not performed any such ritual at the Secretariat, he said.

However, Dhinakaran’s lieutenant Thanga Tamil Selvan asked OPS and the AIADMK to come clean on the yagna controversy. “Yagna will not wash away the betrayal of OPS and land him again in the CM seat,” he told the media in Madurai. “The timing of the yagna raises suspicion. The secretariat is Army property and is with the government on a lease. How can Secretariat be used for performing rituals for personal benefit?” he asked.