Panruti Ramachandran, one of the senior-most leaders of AIADMK and who was once very close to the legendary MGR and the late chief-minister J. Jayalalithaa, has opened up after a long time to assert that he was very much with the ruling combine of EPS-OPS.

Panruti Ramachandran surprised many party cadres when he kept mum and ‘accepted’ Sasikala as the party boss after ‘Puratchithalaivi’ Jayalalithaa’s last December’s demise under mysterious circumstances. He was expected to ally with OPS when he broke away to thwart Sasikala’s attempt to become the chief-minister but still remained aloof, not taking active part in the goings-on in the party.

It was recently reported in sections of the press that Ramachandran, who once revolted against the party in the eighties along with Tirunavukkarasar, would come out in support of Dinakaran, nephew of Sasikala and who controls the faction in the latter’s absence. 

Speaking to newsmen in Cuddalore yesterday, Ramachandran stated categorically that Sasikala’s appointment of Dinakaran as the party’s deputy general secretary was wrong and was totally unacceptable to party cadres.

“Both the party and the Govt. are now under the control of the EPS-OPS combine and I’m very much with them,” he asserted.  On another note, he denied that the BJP, which was ruling at the Centre, wasn’t controlling the goings-on in the party. “The BJP can never rule the State directly or indirectly,” he said.