Favour Backfires, DMK Wants Defence Minister, O Panneerselvam To Quit

DMK accuses Nirmala Sitharaman of abusing her powers to shift O Panneerselvam's brother to a Chennai

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman found herself dragged into Tamil Nadu's politics on Wednesday after word got out that she had ordered use of a military aircraft to fly the Balamurugan, younger brother of Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam from Madurai to Chennai for medical treatment earlier in July. The opposition DMK's MK Stalin demanded that Ms Sitharaman and Mr Panneerselvam should quit their posts for abuse of power.

"Both Nirmala Sitharaman who provided the helicopter and Mr Panneerselvam who used it should resign from their respective posts," Mr Stalin demanded after reports of the minister snubbing the deputy chief minister after extending "humanitarian help".

Sources told NDTV that Nirmala Sitharaman's office had received an SOS from Mr Panneerselvam about three weeks ago about his brother Balamurugan's medical condition. He had to be moved to Chennai quickly for treatment. Her office initially attempted to send a private aircraft but it developed a snag. The defence minister subsequently got a military air ambulance brought in from Bengaluru that flew him to Chennai.

The union minister did not want the favour to become public knowledge. For one, it was concerned that "multiple such demands could come up".

It isn't clear if this view had been conveyed to the Deputy Chief Minister. But he reached Delhi on Monday to a grand welcome by a sizeable number of AIADMK lawmakers at the Delhi airport on Monday.

Given how the AIADMK had reversed its decision to oppose the no-trust motion against the government just days earlier and the tax department had raided persons close to Chief Minister E Palaniswami, the Delhi visit triggered speculation about a change in political equations within the AIADMK and the party's ties with the BJP.

OPS told reporters that his Delhi visit wasn't about politics and he was on a private visit to thank Ms Sitharaman for helping his brother to be shifted from Madurai to Chennai in a military air ambulance.

That public statement apparently upset the defence minister so much that she refused to meet him when he showed up at her South Block office on Tuesday. When news outlets in Tamil Nadu reported that he did meet her, her office tweeted a denial.

Opposition leaders in Tamil Nadu say they will not settle for anything less than the resignation by the two politicians.

"It is a mystery as to how a military helicopter was provided to a private individual. So far this news has not come out and it has now emerged through Mr Panneerselvam himself," DMK working president MK Stalin told reporters.

Saraswati of rebel AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran's party asked why Nirmala Sitharaman wanted to keep the 'help' a secret if everything was above board.

Opposition leaders say it isn't true that private air ambulance services were not available and there were services such as the Ganga Air Ambulance in Coimbatore that the deputy chief minister could have used on payment.

Critics say Nirmala Sitharaman's snub could be politically weighed and comes even as the Tamil Nadu government told the Madras high court that the vigilance department had initiated a probe against OPS.

Ever since his dramatic sit-in at Amma's Samadhi after being edged out of the chief minister's char by the now-jailed VK Sasikala in February last year, OPS was seen as BJP's man in Tamil Nadu.

OPS had earlier revealed how it was on PM Modi's advice that he had merged his faction with the one led by Chief Minister E Palaniswami. His supporters have also pointed out in the past how he would always get an audience with PM Modi even when his boss Mr Palaniswami could not manage to get an appointment.

But the clout of ops with the BJP seems to be going down. This comes at a time when the state vigilance and anti corruption cell is probing a disproportionate assets allegation against the deputy CM.