Chennai: With difference of opinion among Ministers about the AIADMK’s Chief Minister candidate for the upcoming Assembly election, senior Ministers today held separate meetings with Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who are also the joint cooridnator and coordinator of the AIADMK respectively.
Sources said that Ministers Sellur Raju and Rajenthra Bhalaji who had recently expressed their opinion about the Chief Minister candidate of the party in the public were not part of the 12 member team which held discussions with the two top leaders today.
With confusion prevailing over who should be projected as the Chief Minister candidate of the party, the Ministers held a hour long meeting with Panneerselvam at his residence following which they met Palaniswami at the Secretariat.
The back to back meetings have created so much speculations among the party cadres about the Chief Minister candidate.
The tenure of the present AIADMK government ends in May 2021. Even amid the pandemic all the parties are gearing up to face the Assembly elections. However there seems to be conflict in the AIADMK about who will be the Chief Minister candidate of the party.
While a few ministers had said that Palaniswami will continue to be the candidate, some others opined that the Chief Minister will be selected by the MLAs.
Meanwhile, a few posters pasted in and around Theni had mentioned Panneerselvam as the future Chief Minister.
Following the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Panneerselvam was made the Chief Minister. However, later he resigned following which he began the ‘Dharma Yudham’.
While it was speculated that Jayalalithaa’s close aide V K Sasikala will be made as the next Chief Minister, she was arrested in disproportionate asset case. Following this the MLAs extended their support to Palaniswami and made him the Chief Minister.
Close to an year after Sasikala’s imprisonment, Panneerselvam and Palaniswami factions merged after ousting Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran from the party.
Palaniswami continued to lead the government while Panneerselvam was made the deputy Chief Minister. The duo also shared powers as coordinator and joint coordinators in leading the party. Though there were initial differences among the party cadres, they continued to work together in the Lok Sabha elections and local body polls.
Now with the Assembly election nearing, the differences among the cadres seem to have surfaced again.