Tamil Nadu ; No report has been sent from Governor Vidyasagar Rao

As the power struggle within the AIADMK shows no sign of abating, caretaker chief minister O Panneerselvam received a shot in the arm as senior leader E Ponnusamy joined his camp on Friday and urged the party MLAs to back him. Meanwhile, the Raj Bhavan laid to rest speculation and unconfirmed reports on television that claimed Governor Vidyasagar Rao has sent a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs reportedly saying that Sasikala can’t be called for oath for the CM’s post. “No report has been sent still from Governor C Vidyasagar Rao,” said Raj Bhavan PRO. Some hours back, DMK’s MK Stalin met the Governor at Raj Bhawan. In his letter to Rao, Stalin said, “Horse trading in any form has to be prevented and efforts to protect sanctity of Anti-defection law has to be undertaken.” In further development on Tuesday, AIADMK presidium chairman and top leader E Madhusudhanan had jumped ship to back Panneerselvam which led to his sacking on Friday. He had appealed to workers to retrieve the party from dictators and rowdies in a reference to general secretary VK Sasikala. E Ponnusamy is the third top party leader after Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan and E Madhusudhanan to back Panneerselvam.