It has turned out to be a bitter first anniversary for the Edappady Palaniswamy Government in Tamil Nadu. While the AIADMK camp was celebrating the first anniversary of the Edappady Palaniswamy-led Government, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam told a public meeting in his Assembly constituency at Theni that he had agreed to merge with the Palaniswamy faction and joined the Government only because of the persuasion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“You may be remembering the meeting I had with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year. It was the Prime Miniser who insisted that both the factions in the AIADMK should bury the hatchet and merge to save the party. He also told me that he used to discuss the AIADMK matters with our Amma.

It is only because of his nudging that I and my colleagues decided to merge with the other faction,” Panneerselvam disclosed at the meeting late Friday night.

He said that he was not interested in joining the Government. "But the Prime Minister insisted that I should be a part of the Government. ‘You should be a minister and party of the Government’, this  was what he told me. It is only because of the compulsion by the Prime Minister that I agreed to join the Government. I was twice Chief Minister and Cabinet Minister because of Amma (Jayalalithaa)," said Panneerselvam.

This is the first time Panneerselvam opened up about the factors which led to the merger of the two factions of the AIADMK which had undergone a split after the former was eased out of the chief  ministership in early February to facilitate the coronation of the then general secretary VK Sasikala as the Chief Minister of the State.

While the DMK-led Opposition had been alleging for the last one year that the AIADMK Government has been propped up by the BJP, this is the first time a senior leader has come out substantiating the contention of the Opposition parties.

Panneerselvam, OPS to his friends and followers, recalled his meeting with Narendra Modi, when he met him in New Delhi during the chaos in the party.

The disclosure made by Panneerselvam and that too on the first anniversary of the Palaniswamy Government points to the fact that all is not well within the AIADMK even after the coming together of the two factions.