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Trouble brewing in AIADMK? Multiple meetings at EPS and OPS’s houses in Chennai

The latest fissures between the two camps are over who will lead the AIADMK and be projected as the CM candidate ahead of 2021.

A tug of war is taking place within the ruling AIADMK over who will be the Chief Ministerial candidate. The latest tussle comes with less than a year to go for the Assembly Elections in Tamil Nadu.

On Saturday at least ten senior ministers including SP Velumani, P Thangamani, D Jayakumar, KA Sengottaiyan and CV Shanmugam met Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam at his residence in Chennai for a discussion. Media reports stated that this meeting was spurred after many posters surfaced in Theni, O Panneerselvam’s hometown, which proclaimed OPS as having the blessings of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The posters also claimed that OPS is the people’s Chief Minister eternally. The posters also had hashtags #2021CMforOPS in them.

During the day, the group of ministers shuttled between OPS and EPS’ residences. After a discussion that began at 11am on Saturday and lasted roughly around one-and-a-half hours at O Panneerselvam’s residence, the group of ministers went to the residence of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. The ministers refused to speak to the media when they had come out of OPS’ house. After a 30 minute-long discussion at Palaniswami’s residence, the group of ministers again went back to Panneerselvam’s house.

The unrest in the party was triggered by a tweet on August 11 by Dairy Minister KT Rajenthra Balaji. He tweeted that Edappadi K Palaniswami will lead the AIADMK in the 2021 election. “We will set a goal and meet on the field. We will have Edappadiyar (Edappadi Palaniswami) in the forefront and build a foundation. Let us face the battle, win. 2021 is ours,” he tweeted in Tamil.

Balaji’s comments came after Minister Sellur K Raju stated that the AIADMK leadership would decide their CM candidate together. Senior AIADMK ministers like KP Munusamy and RB Udhayakumar had also endorsed Edappadi K Palaniswami’s performance as the Chief Minister and had told the media that the candidacy for the next elections will be announced at the appropriate time.

However, Rajenthra Balaji’s tweet had sparked outrage among those in the AIADMK. State Minister for Fisheries D Jayakumar told the media that whatever Rajenthra Balaji said was his personal opinion and not the party’s stance.

On August 13, O Panneerselvam tweeted that it was Jayalalithaa’s dream to win a third consecutive term of government in Tamil Nadu. He urged everybody to work with a sense of duty and responsibility towards that victory. “Those who live in the path shown by Amma should stand united and walk with integrity. Tomorrow is ours,” he tweeted. These tweets were reportedly considered as his acknowledgement of the brewing murmurs around AIADMK’s Chief Minister candidate in the upcoming polls.

Following Jayalalithaa’s demise in December 2016, the AIADMK had split with one faction led by O Panneerselvam rebelling against VK Sasikala, who was made the party General Secretary. Following Sasikala’s conviction in the Disproportionate Assets case, Edappadi Palaniswami went on to lead the ruling party. The two factions eventually merged in August 2017 after the removal of Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran from the party.

Following the merger, a 11-member committee was set up to guide the party, with OPS as the Coordinator and EPS as Joint Coordinator. 

Source: The News Minute