The meeting held by the faction headed by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam in the thick of reported merger talks with the Government, led to much speculation on Friday. After five hours behind closed doors, no announcement was made regarding the matter. Leaders in the Panneerselvam camp failed to reach a consensus on becoming a part of the Government led by Edappadi Palanisamy.
Why the OPS Camp Could Not Reach a Consensus?
The reason for this, according to reports, is that office bearers do not want to be associated with the corruption allegedly present in the current Government. The leaders in the OPS faction further demanded that the probe into former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's death be assisted by the CBI.
"Today (Friday) we met the office bearers at district levels to seek their views on the merger with the AIADMK faction led by Chief Minister K Palanisamy," a senior leader, who wanted to remain anonymous, told IANS, adding, "The officials at the district level are not in favour of the merger but to secure the party in safe hands.”
The source also said the leaders want Panneerselvam to be declared AIADMK General Secretary.
Queried on the floral decoration at Jayalalithaa's memorial on the Marina beach, he countered: "Who did the floral decoration? It is the government and not us. There was no positive signal sent from our side to the government on merger for them to go ahead with floral decoration."
Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy was expected to visit the memorial on Friday night but the plan did not materialise.
According to the leader, Panneerselvam listened to the views of the party men at the meeting and further discussion with party members will continue on Saturday.
The process of merger of the two factions got accelerated after Palanisamy announced on Thursday a judicial inquiry into Jayalalithaa’s death after a prolonged illness and the conversion of her Poes Garden residence into a memorial.
Can the Two Camps Cross the Sasikala Hurdle?
Panneerselvam had laid three conditions for a merger: keeping out AIADMK General Secretary and the now jailed VK Sasikala and her family, ordering a judicial probe into Jayalalithaa's death and converting her home into a memorial.
The Palanisamy faction had only days ago declared the appointment of TTV Dhinakaran, Sasikala's nephew, as Deputy General Secretary as "improper, unacceptable and invalid".
This was challenged by Dhinakaran, who is said to have the support of around 20 legislators and who on Friday called Sasikala at the jail in Bengaluru.
If the AIADMK merges, the party will get back its popular "two leaves" symbol which has been frozen by the Election Commission.
A likely merger will end the revolt ignited by Panneerselvam on February 7 when he dropped a bombshell saying he was forced to resign as Chief Minister and proposed the appointment of Sasikala as party chief, paving way for her to become the Chief Minister.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court decided on a dragging corruption case against Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and her relatives.
The ruling ended Sasikala's dreams of becoming the Chief Minister, putting her behind bars.
Thereafter, Sasikala-supporter Palanisamy became the Chief Minister, but over time developed differences with Dhinakaran, willing to shake hands with Panneerselvam again.
(This article was published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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