Both factions of Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK have shown inclinations of a rapprochement, but neither camp has managed to find a middle ground.
The faction led by former chief minister O Panneerselvam has stuck to its guns that the reasons for the split will have to addressed before talks are initiated.
Panneerselvam’s demandsThe OPS camp has demanded that AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew, Deputy General Secretary TTV Dinakaran, quit party posts, and a judicial probe be ordered into the circumstances leading to the death of the former chief minister and AIADMK chief leader J Jayalalithaa.
A senior leader of the OPS faction told
Even as senior ministers were involved in discussions on Tuesday, most MLAs are at mid-sea, literally, on a visit to a battleship.
Those familiar with Tamil Nadu politics could not help but draw parallels to the February episode of MLAs being sequestered at a beach resort ahead of a trust motion in the Assembly.
Deep troubleMeanwhile, pressure is mounting on the Sasikala faction.
The Jayalalithaa confidante is in jail since February, undergoing a four-year prison term in a disproportionate assets case, in which the former CM was also convicted. Dinakaran, the second-in-command, was on Monday linked to an alleged attempt to bribe the Election Commission, so as to secure the AIADMK’s ‘two leaves’ symbol for his faction. The development comes close on the heels of the EC cancelling the bypoll to the RK Nagar constituency, which was represented by the late Jayalalithaa, after Income Tax Authorities found documentary evidence pointing to rampant disbursement of cash among voters.
The evidence was unearthed following searches in the premises of C Vijaya Baskar, Health Minister, and his associates. Names of half dozen other cabinet ministers were also linked to efforts to bribe voters. Over the last one week Vijaya Baskar has been grilled by the tax authorities.
AIADMK Ministers’ meetOn Monday night, while Dinakaran was away from Chennai, more than 20 Ministers of the Tamil Nadu Cabinet met at the residence of Electricity Minister P Thangamani, to discuss ways to repair the rift within the party.
Following the meeting, Finance Minister D Jayakumar said the ministers had discussed ways to unite the warring factions and retrieve its symbol that has been frozen by the ECI.
On Tuesday morning, KA Sengottaiyan had briefed Dinakaran on the meeting. But there is no formal word on his reaction.
Speculation on the two factions coming together had intensified since Monday, when OPS said he was open to talking with representatives from the other faction if they come.
The split in the party happened following the death of Jayalalithaa in December 2016.
OPS, the then chief minister, was ousted by Sasikala who had taken over as AIADMK General Secretary and subsequently elected Leader of the Legislature Party. But she was found guilty by the Supreme Court in the disproportionate assets case and imprisoned in February. Before surrendering to the authorities, she brought in Edappadi K Palaniswami as the Chief Minister and named Dinakaran her deputy.
But there has been a groundswell of dissatisfaction at the grass-roots level in the AIADMK after Sasikala and Dinakaran took centre-stage in the party.
MLAs, too, have been facing flak from party supporters.