Chennai: Just when it looked like a measure of order had returned, chaos engulfed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) ranks on Monday, leading to an impasse in the merger talks.
It was earlier reported that the two factions—AIADMK (Amma) under chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) led by former chief minister O. Panneerselvam would sit together for merger talks on Monday evening. But through the day both sides blamed each other for the “delay” in taking the proposal forward.
The Panneerselvam-led faction said the rival camp headed by Palaniswami was “in a state of confusion”, and added that an unseen hand was controlling it. Rejecting the charges, the ruling camp asserted that there was no confusion and it had already sent the invite for talks.
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The Panneerselvam camp also remained firm on its two demands—a formal ouster of V.K. Sasikala, her nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran and other family members from the party; and a CBI probe into the death of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa.
Though the Palaniswami camp has assured that Sasikala and her family will be sidelined, the Panneerselvam faction is insistent on a formal statement on their ouster. K.P. Munusamy, senior leader from AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma), on Monday reiterated that “all the 30 members of the Sasikala family should be kept away from party affairs”.
He also objected to an article in AIADMK mouthpiece Dr Namadhu MGR, which he claimed mentioned that the party was with Sasikala and Dinakaran. “This is coming from somewhere. This is not required,” he said.
Munusamy added that “there are too many conflicting views within the Palaniswami faction and there seems to be someone who is operating this camp from behind”.
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Rajya Sabha MP R. Vaithilingam of the ruling faction said that they have invited Panneerselvam and his team for discussions. “But setting preconditions even before beginning the talks are a hindrance,” he added.
Besides, while Panneerselvam and his team have been insisting that they “just have two demands”, the chief minister’s post is definitely a bone of contention that is delaying consensus between the two warring factions of the AIADMK.
A senior leader in the Panneerselvam camp, on condition of anonymity, said, “They (Palaniswami faction) should definitely agree to bring back Panneerselvam as the CM. Otherwise we will just walk away from the merger plan. It was them who wanted to initiate the talks. Not us.”
Meanwhile, talking to reporters, minister K.T. Rajendra Balaji said that all the legislators in the AIADMK (Amma) camp want Palaniswami to remain the chief minister. “Panneerselvam did not ask for the chief minister’s post,” he added.
On Sunday, minister of finance and fisheries D. Jayakumar had said he was “ready to give up the finance portfolio to Panneerselvam for the welfare of the party”.
PTI contributed to the story.