CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Sunday said the 129 MLAs, staying in a private resort near here, should be released and they should meet people in their respective constituencies to get a sense of the public mood.

He said the legislators should be released from the resort and allowed to meet the people in their respective constituencies.

Panneerselvam also alleged that by shedding crocodile tears, Sasikala kept the MLAs on her side. “Let her release them…so that they can go to their respective consitutencies and meet the people and take a good decision,” he told reporters here. Stressing that the Tamil people were well aware of the current political scenario, he said, “Not only in India, people across the globe are monitoring the situation.” Noting that he was working as per his conscience, Panneerselvam said he did not invite any of his Cabinet colleagues when he had gone to meditate at Amma’s (Jayalalithaa) memorial last week after which he said he was forced to quit from the Chief Minister’s post. Asserting that he was always a staunch loyalist of Jayalalithaa, Panneerselvam said, “In the last 20 years not even once has Amma criticised me.” On whether the administration had come to a standstill due to the ongoing crisis, he said it was not true as he has been meeting government officials everyday. “Every day I am in touch with the officials. Day before yesterday, the Chief Secretary and DGP met me and we discussed several issues. Tomorrow, I’m going to the Secretariat,” he said. He said Deepak and Deepa, the niece of late leader J Jayalalithaa, were the only blood relations of Jayalalithaa. “When Amma’s mortal remains were in the hospital on the night of December 5, she was not allowed to pay her respects even at that time,” he alleged. To a query on the assets of Jayalalithaa, he recalled it was her wish that all her assets go to the party. On a query as to how confident he was about forming the government, he said, “When the Assembly convenes, I will prove my majority there.” On the press conference addressed by AIADMK chief Sasikala, he asked why she did not meet the press when Jayalalithaa was hospitalised and why was she speaking to reporters now. Meanwhile, support grew on Sunday for Panneerselvam with five more MPs crossing over to his camp. Four Lok Sabha MPs–Jaisingh Thiyagaraj Natterjee (Tuticorin), Senguttuvan (Vellore), R P Marutharaja (Perambalur) and S Rajendran (Villupuram) met Panneerselvam at his Greenways residence this morning and pledged support to him, taking the number of MPs backing him in the fight to 10. Rajya Sabha MP R Lakshmanan also switched over to the Panneerselvam camp, provoking an embattled Sasikala to sack him as the party’s Villupuram (North) district chief. Amid continued uncertainty over her swearing-in and struggling to keep her flock together as desertion by the MPS went on, Sasikala met AIADMK MLAs housed at a resort on Chennai’s outskirts for the second successive day. Before heading for the resort, Sasikala told journalists outside the Poes Garden residence of her mentor and former Chief Minister, the late J Jayalalithaa, it was “very difficult” to be a woman in politics. Sasikala also displayed a copy of a ‘fake letter’ allegedly sent by her to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao threatening to commit suicide if she was not allowed to form the government. “A fake letter in my name is doing the rounds in social media and a friend brought it to my notice. You (media) should also see it. It is very difficult for a woman to be in politics. Have seen that during Purathchi Thalaivi’s (revolutionary leader, a term fondly used by Jayalalithaa’s supporters to address her) times also, but she overcame it,” Sasikala said. The AIADMK general secretary said she had seen such a “flutter” earlier happen in AIADMK following the death of its founder the late M G Ramachandran, but Jayalalithaa steered the party tactfully and even ensured it won a successive term in last year’s polls. “Since then, there have been efforts to split the party. Those who made such efforts then are doing it today also,” she said, in an apparent reference to her nemesis Panneerselvam, who was then a member of the faction led by Janaki, Ramachandran widow. AIADMK was then divided into Janaki and Jayalalithaa factions. Sasikala claimed she had the support of the party MLAs. “The MLAs are with me. Today also I am going to meet them. As General Secretary, I can tell you that the AIADMK government will certainly continue for the next four-and-a- half years and serve people,” she said. On the ‘delay’ by Governor Rao in inviting her to form the government and the MPs crossing over to the Panneerselvam camp, she said, “You very well know the reason”.–PTI