'I did not wear a mask,' says Edappadi Palaniswami

SALEM: Slamming AMMK chief TTV Dhinakaran for making comments with an "ulterior motive", AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday said he did not use a mask to cover his face when he came out of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's residence in Delhi.

Amid calls to readmit expelled leaders such as O Panneerselvam into the party, Palaniswami told reporters here that top BJP leader Amit Shah had made it clear months ago that he would not interfere in the internal affairs of the AIADMK.

Senior leader KA Sengottaiyan had recently demanded that leaders who had been expelled be taken back into the party.

The AIADMK chief, further, said he did not wear a "mask" after meeting Union Minister Amit Shah.

Hitting out at Dhinakaran, the AIADMK chief said only he entered the AIADMK with a mask and that he was eventually expelled from the party in 2011 by late party supremo J Jayalalithaa.

Accusing Dhinakaran of having "ulterior motive", the LoP, however, said he was not clear about the nature of such motives, which has surfaced in his comments after the AIADMK sought conferment of Bharat Ratna posthumously on freedom fighter Pasumpon U Muthramalinga Thevar.

Also, Palaniswami said that a week after the AIADMK revived its ties with the BJP in April this year, TTV Dhinakaran said that his party was not in the AIADMK alliance. However, Dhinakaran had said at that time that the AMMK was still a part of the NDA.

On September 17, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam chief TTV Dhinakaran alleged that Palaniswami covered his face using a cloth when he came out of Amit Shah's residence in a car, following a meeting with the Union Home Minister on the night of September 16 in the national capital.

Palaniswami had sent away in advance his senior party colleagues --in a separate car-- and he himself had slowly exited later from Shah's residence, Dhinakaran had claimed.

The AMMK top leader, mocking at the AIADMK general secretary, said: "Only Palaniswami has to provide an answer... no one has a necessity to cover the face when they leave the union home minister's residence...everyone knows who met whom... hence, from now onwards we have to address Palaniswami using the moniker 'mask' Palaniswami."