AIADMK rift widens as row gets personal

Shortly after former minister KP Munusamy accused two state ministers of stalling the merger talks, his faction head O Panneerselvam rubbed salt in the wounds of the faction led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy. He said that the MLAs in the ruling dispensation would not be able to win back their seats, if elections were held anytime soon. Not content with naming the two ministers, the former chief minister had even ridiculed state finance minister D Jayakumar’s offer to vacate his ministerial berth for OPS. That it had come from Panneerselvam himself has further dented the spirit of a few party insiders, who dreamt of a reunion of the two sparring AIADMK factions in the near future.

“Does it (merger) look like happening even? I would not even say if it is remotely possible. They are not so keen either,” a senior leader in OPS camp told DTNext, before admitting that the newfound bonhomie between the EPS camp and BJP bosses has certainly irked them. 

OPS and company had managed to fix a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi only to reassure their ties with the BJP. The leader also conceded that they had started seeking Prime Minister’s appointment as soon as they caught whiff of Chief Minister Palanisamy continuously sending envoys to New Delhi since last week. 

Echoing an equally indifferent view, one of the senior ministers in the Palanisamy cabinet said that it has become a personal row now. “A few non-MLAs in OPS camp know that they cannot taste power, precisely, become minister even after the possible merger. Hence, they are doing enough to keep the two factions apart,” the minister alleged. He also accused a former minister and Speaker of playing a spoilsport in the unification process.