Merger bid hit hard as 3 MLAs refuse post in Sasikala faction
DINAKARAN APPOINTED 60 OFFICE BEARERS, INCLUDING 20 AIADMK MLAS ON FRIDAY. BY SATURDAY, THREE HAD DECLINED TO ACCEPT THE POSTS ON OFFER
Twists and turns abound in Tamil Nadu politics that is full of suspense, emotion, drama and theatrics, perhaps due to its intrinsic links with the film world.
Just when it appeared that merger of the two AIADMK factions was around the corner, at the prodding of the Bharatiya Janata Party, jailed AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala has thrown a spanner in the works, through her nephew TTV Dinakaran. But her ability to turn things around in AIADMK seems to have taken a major hit, as three MLAs appointed to party posts on Friday refused to accept them on Saturday.
The BJP has been trying hard to enter Tamil Nadu and take advantage of the vacuum created by the demise of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The route it chose was to get the AIADMK on board, if possible to join NDA, but it wanted the merger of the two factions as a pre-condition.
Interestingly, far from achieving merger, the number of factions in AIADMK has now risen to three — with Dinakaran stepping up the ante against chief minister and former chief minister O Panneerselvam.
Dinakaran appointed 60 office bearers, including 20 MLAs, late on Friday night. He said that this list was cleared by Sasikala herself when he called on the jailed leader the day before.
Out of the 20 MLAs, three have declined to accept the party post, preferring to stay with the ruling Edapaddi Palanisami camp. Declining the post, K Palani, MLA from Sriperumbudur, said he was happy with the post given by Jayalalithaa and did not want any other post.
A senior minister derisively dismissed Dinakaran as a spent force and claimed that he had but a handful of MLAs with him.
The AIADMK deputy general secretary was earlier planning to visit party headquarters and had convened a meeting of office bearers. But sensing the mood, he cancelled the meeting and instead announced a statewide tour to strengthen the party.
Both Palanisami and Panneerselvam have called meetings on Saturday and are expected to release their own lists of party office bearers.
State finance minister D Jayakumar on Saturday questioned the appointment of office bearers by Dinakaran when appointment of Sasikala herself was under question and was being decided by Election Commission and the courts. He continues to maintain talks were on and merger would happen, but would not give a time frame.