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'OPS is a shining light in the darkness of corruption'

February 08, 2017 13:38 IST

'I am not on OPS' side or anyone else's side.'
'I am on the side of truth. And the truth shall set us free,' former MP P Kannan, who quit the AIADMK on Sunday, tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar.

IMAGE: Then Tamil Nadu finance minister leader O Panneerselvam greets then chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa at the swearing-in ceremony at the Madras University Centenary Auditorium in Chennai, May 23, 2016. Photograph: R Senthil Kumar/PTI Photo

Former Rajya Sabha member P Kannan, who joined the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on February 14 last year, announced his resignation from the party on Sunday, the day the legislature party decided that O Panneerselvam would make way for V K Sasikala as chief minister.

Kannan quit the Congress to join the AIADMK ahead of last year's assembly polls and had enrolled himself as a party member in the presence of then Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa.

Speaking to Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar, Kannan said he did not want to disclose the reasons for his quitting the AIADMK.

I am not on anyone's side.

It may be a battle between OPS and someone else, but that doesn't interest me.

I am interested in the truth.

It is a battle between truth and falsehood and I am on the side of truth.

I know OPS. I have interacted with him several times when I was in the Congress and when I was in the AIADMK.

Amma told me several times to speak to OPS and we have met many times.

I have never asked OPS for an obligation and I will never do that. I am not like that.

So don't feel I am saying this because I owe him anything.

I want the truth to triumph.

Twice Amma made him chief minister and he did his job very well. This is the third time he has been made chief minister and he has done an admirable job.

The party legislators elected him as he was the only deserving candidate.

He was hard-working and humble. Then all of a sudden, someone else wants to be chief minister!

I have heard about this madam (Sasikala) and I know about her, know who she is, but I have never met her.

OPS, I know, to be an honest man.

There is a gang who when Amma was alive exploited her name to amass wealth in thousands of crores.

How much? I don't know to count that much.

I am a middle class man and cannot imagine that much of money.

They exploited, abused and spoilt Amma's name even when she was alive. And now they are trying to take over Tamil Nadu.

I am happy that OPS decided to speak out.

After depression, suppression and suffering, he finally spoke up.

He is like a shining light in the darkness of corruption.

The light has shown and we will see all the corruption out in the open.

The people of the world, the country and particularly the people of Tamil Nadu want to know why it was so urgent for OPS to go and some madam to become chief minister.

I want the truth to triumph, I want the truth to spread all over the state so that everyone knows what the gang is up to these days.

I am not on OPS' side or anyone else's side.

I am on the side of truth. And the truth shall set us free.

A Ganesh Nadar