‘No one has allegiance to party’: Audio clip goes viral, AIADMK’s C Ponnaiyan says it is fabricated

An OPS supporter releases an audio clip where AIADMK organisational secretary C Ponnaiyan purportedly says that leaders like EPS and OPS were only focused on their personal growth. Ponnaiyan said the voice in the clip was not his.

Senior AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan (ANI/File)

An audio clip purportedly featuring a conversation between senior AIADMK organisational secretary C Ponnaiyan and a party functionary from Kanniyakumari has created ripples in the AIADMK camp, amid the ongoing dispute between Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and O Panneerselvam (OPS).

Kolathur Krishnamoorthy, an OPS supporter, addressed reporters in Chennai on Tuesday and played an audio where Ponnaiyan is purportedly heard telling Nanjil S K Kolappan, an OPS supporter, that leaders like EPS and OPS were only focused on their personal growth, not the party’s. On Tuesday night, Ponnaiyan addressed the media and said the audio clip was fabricated and the voice in the clip was not his.

Krishnamoorthy claimed that Ponnaiyan spoke to Kolappan before the party’s general council meeting on July 11 at Vanagaram. In the audio clip, when Kolappan expressed concern about the current situation of the party, the senior AIADMK leader allegedly spoke about how the leaders, including EPS and OPS, and other members like P Thangamani, S P Velumani and C Vee Shanmugam were more focused on developing themselves rather than worrying about the party’s growth.

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In the audio, Ponnaiyan purportedly also noted that certain leaders had secret ties with their arch-rival DMK for securing their properties. He also allegedly said that the party was split into different groups and top-level leaders with the support of caste outfits and certain number MLAs on their side were dictating terms to interim general secretary EPS, who was more concerned about saving his post. “No one has allegiance to the party or Amma (J Jayalalithaa),” Ponnaiyan was purportedly heard saying in the audio clip.

After the audio clip was shared widely on social media, EPS supporters slammed Ponnaiyan for speaking ill about their leader.

Ponnaiyan, however, said the audio clip had been fabricated. “Using voice modulation technology, this fabricated audio clip has been spread to ruin my reputation or to bring disrepute to the Edappadi-led AIADMK through me. The voice in the audio clip is not mine and it is not my content. If you hear the audio carefully, many disrespectful and disgusting words are used. People who know me very well will understand that I will never use such words. How will we raise complaints against our own members?” he asked.

Ponnaiyan said he stood fourth in the AIADMK hierarchy and the audio leak was a conspiracy by the party’s enemies to defame him. “I have credibility. If I say something, the cadres and public will believe it is true, so to defame me, these fabricated audio clips are spread,” he said.

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