Chief Minister and AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday held consultations with a host of Ministers and senior leaders in the party ahead of the scheduled announcement of the AIADMK’s candidate for the post of Chief Minister during 2021 Assembly election.
In the morning, at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister met Ministers, including P. Thangamani, S.P. Velumani, C.Ve. Shanmugam, Dindigul C. Sreenivasan, R.B.Udhayakumar and O.S. Manian.
In the afternoon, deputy coordinators of the party, K.P. Munusamy and R. Vaithilingam, met Mr. Palaniswami together.
The discussions were preceded by a tweet of Deputy Chief Minister and the party coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, which created a flutter in the political circles.
Options under study
What transpired at the meetings was not fully known but the camps led by the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister were understood to have studied, in the last few days, different options on running the affairs of the party.
While Mr. Panneerselvam is firm on the formation of an 11-member “all-powerful” panel, the other camp is for constituting committees for different purposes, such as seat sharing and election propaganda, which has been the norm in the party at the time of Assembly elections.
Though there appears to be no point of convergence, senior leaders and Ministers are confident that the issue will blow over.
Mr. Panneerselvam’s tweeted: “All my decisions have been in the interests of people of Tamil Nadu and workers of the AIADMK. They will remain so hereafter too.”
Mr. Panneerselvam also quoted a popular saying: “Whatever happened, happened for good! Whatever happens, happens well! Whatever will happen, will happen well!”
Political overtone
Mr. Panneerselvam’s tweet assumed political significance as it was for the first time that he went on record with a message of political overtones after the stormy meeting of the AIADMK’s executive committee exactly a week ago.
At the end of the executive committee meeting, it was announced that the party’s nominee for the Chief Minister would be declared on October 7.
In the afternoon, Mr.Panneerselvam, who reached his home district of Theni on Friday night, left for Chennai, after interacting with a number of his supporters in the last few days.
On Sunday, he, along with Revenue Minister R. B. Udhayakumar and a few other MLAs, visited Usilampatti town to take a look at the site where it had been decided to install a statue of P.K. Mookiah Thevar, a prominent follower of Forward Bloc leader Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar and who was instrumental in establishing a number of educational institutions in the area.
Mr. Panneerselvam’s message was also being viewed in political circles as one that forewarns the party workers “to await a crucial decision”. But a key member of the Deputy Chief Minister’s camp said Mr. Panneerselvam had always been keen on ensuring “unity” in the party, and this had been “illustrated” by the tweet too.