Modi behind AIADMK merger: Panneerselvam

In a dramatic disclosure that confirmed the role of the BJP in the coming together of the two major AIADMK factions in August last year, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was instrumental in his faction's merger with the group led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Addressing an AIADMK party meeting in his native Theni district late on Friday evening, Panneerselvam claimed that he had made a courtesy call on Modi before deciding on the merger, when the Prime Minister told him that he had in the past discussed party issues with Jayalalithaa. “The Prime Minister told me that under the present circumstances we both (Panneerselvam and Palaniswami) should merge to save the party,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.

The revelation comes when opposition leaders, including DMK working president M K Stalin have alleged that the Palaniswami government which is surviving on a wafer thin majority - has completed a year in office (on February 16) only because of the backing of the BJP-led Central Government. Panneerselvam, who had taken over as Chief Minister after Jayalalithaa's death in December 2015, had resigned in early February. He proposed the name of V K Sasikala, close aide of Jayalalithaa, as his successor but within two days revolted again her and went on to form the AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma). Following Sasikala's conviction in a corruption case - in which Jayalalithaa figured as prime accused - she could not become Chief Minister and instead nominated Palaniswami for the post and her faction eventually came to be known as the AIADMK (Amma).