Amma’s men back together

Chennai, August 21 

Rival AIADMK factions led by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and rebel leader O Panneerselvam today merged, ending a nearly seven-month feud in a power-sharing formula in the ruling party and the government in which the latter was made the Deputy Chief Minister.

As the merger brought to an end weeks of suspense during which there were tough negotiations, the two factions said steps would be taken to expel party chief VK Sasikala. But the Sasikala camp appeared to be in no mood to give up without a fight. MLAs owing allegiance to sidelined party deputy general secretary and Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran said they would meet Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao tomorrow.

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Key Dhinakaran aide and legislator P Vetrivel, however, did not say anything about the agenda of the meeting.

Another MLA, Thanga Tamilselvan, questioned why Palaniswami was giving importance to Panneerselvam, “who has just nine MLAs”, and claimed the Dhinakaran faction enjoyed the support of 25 MLAs. 

Calling each other ‘Annan’ (elder brother), both Palaniswami and Panneerselvam described the merger as “historic”. Palaniswami also announced that an 11-member steering committee would lead the party affairs and its members would be announced later.

Panneerselvam was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister and his close associate and former minister K Pandiarajan as Culture Minister by Governor Rao at Raj Bhawan after the merger at the party headquarters here. The former Chief Minister was allotted several portfolios, including Finance, a portfolio he has held before.

PM Narendra Modi congratulated Panneerselvam and assured all support to the Palaniswami government. “I congratulate Thiru O Panneerselvam & others who took oath today. I hope Tamil Nadu scales newer heights of progress in years to come,” the PM tweeted. — PTI