BJP to AIADMK: Merge factions to enter ruling coalition

With the BJP playing mediator, merger talks between the rival factions of the AIADMK have once again intensified.

While one camp of Tamil Nadu’s ruling party is led by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, the other is headed by incumbent Edappadi K Palaniswami.

It is the BJP’s insistence that both groups must merge if they are to be admitted into the ruling NDA coalition, that has led to heightened talks.

The AIADMK is “likely to come aboard”, said a senior BJP leader in Delhi, provided they merge first. With 50 MPs in Parliament, the AIADMK is the third-largest party in the country and can have a representation in the Union Cabinet. But, most importantly, it gives the BJP the long-awaited foothold in the southern State.

However, there is yet no guarantee that the AIADMK merger, or its induction into the NDA, will happen before the Cabinet reshuffle after the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

While State Finance Minister D Jayakumar said on Tuesday that the “merger talks were going on and the merger can happen very soon”, some other leaders of the AIADMK have asserted that there would be no forward movement before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The merger talks between the two factions had failed this June when Panneerselvam, also known as OPS, dissolved the panel formed for talks with the Palaniswami (EPS) faction.

OPS is once again believed to be demanding that VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran be removed before the merger happens. Talks had failed in June because the EPS camp could not take a final call on removing Sasikala and Dhinakaran.

Another demand from the OPS camp is that the merger can happen only under his leadership. But Palaniswami has asserted that he would continue as CM.

Meanwhile, Dhinakaran has ruled out a merger and asserted that he was acting on behalf of Sasikala, who was elected party General Secretary late last year. “Few of our ministers and leaders are saying things (on joining NDA) out of their own fears. I am sure they will come out of the fear and it (merger) will not happen,” said Dhinakaran.