Chennai: The stage is now set for the merger of the two factions of Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK, with the camp led by chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami openly declaring the appointment of T.T.V. Dhinakaran as deputy general secretary by his aunt V.K. Sasikala as “illegal” and asking him to refrain from “creating confusion” in the party through his actions.
On the eve of his crucial meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Mr Palaniswami chaired a meeting of party office-bearers and passed a resolution suggesting the post of general secretary in the AIADMK will be kept vacant as a tribute to J. Jayalalithaa, who passed away on December 5, 2016.
Sources said it also means that after the merger, O. Panneerselvam will not be general secretary of the party but will only lead a committee that will run the party and coordinate with the government. The merger, being facilitated at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wish, is expected to take shape formally after party leaders return from New Delhi on Friday night or Saturday.
Sources also told this newspaper that there was a high probability of Mr Palaniswami and Mr Panneerselvam meeting in New Delhi to stitch up the merger that is expected to infuse stability into the AIADMK government, which has been facing uncertainty ever since Jayalalithaa passed away. “Both leaders — Palaniswami and Panneerselvam — will face the media together to announce the merger very soon,” a senior leader said.
The party also effectively distanced itself from Ms Sasikala since it admitted that her appointment as general secretary after Jayalalithaa’s death has been challenged in the Election Commission. In an effort to drive home the point that only the office-bearers appointed by the late Jayalalithaa continue to steer the AIADMK, K.A. Sengottaiyan and Dindigul C. Sreenivasan, who were appointed as presidium chairman and treasurer by Ms Sasikala in February, did not sign the resolution, though they attended the meeting.
“It was a concerted decision not to include their names to send the message loud and clear that Jayalalithaa is still supreme in the party and appointments made by her still stands,” a senior party leader said.
The much-awaited meeting evoked the expected reactions from the OPS and Dhinakaran factions. Mr Panneerselvam himself welcomed the move and said the EPS camp has “crossed halfway” and that he was waiting for it to complete the journey. For the first time, Mr Panneerselvam indicated that the merger efforts could see the light of day when he said any decision on unification would keep in mind the “aspirations and wishes of the cadre”.
On his part, Mr Dhinakaran rejected the EPS camp’s resolution, saying no one has the right to remove him from the post of deputy general secretary. He also wondered how the Palaniswami camp could comment against Sasikala when they themselves had furnished an affidavit to the EC endorsing her appointment as party chief.
