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Talks between O Panneerselvam faction and the ruling AIADMK camp are on the verge of collapse. The former chief minister recently said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami and TTV Dinakaran are comrades in arms. The two factions were close to a merger but one of the main preconditions set by OPS was the expulsion of ruling party general secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew and party deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran. The former is serving a sentence in Bengaluru jail while the latter has been booked by the Delhi police for allegedly trying to grease the palms of election commission officials to reclaim the party’s two-leaves symbol for his faction.
OPS and EPS showed bonhomie when talks of the merger came up and senior leaders from both camps claimed the merger was necessary to save the party. However, the talks seem to have changed track and there seems to be a loss of faith between OPS and the chief minister.
EPS, meanwhile, defended his faction’s stand that OPS had not put any preconditions at first but there are some people who are constantly creating hurdles. He claimed that the faction was open to hold talks for a merger. The EPS camp said that it was unfair to impose conditions before holding talks, especially at a time when there are ongoing cases related to the party symbol, Sasikala’s appointment and, one of his long-standing demands, a CBI probe into Jayalalithaa’s death.
OPS is adamant that his conditions are met. OPS has also announced a mass contact programme that would aim at creating support for the next local body elections and he aims to tour all 32 districts in the state. Meanwhile, EPS camp still enjoys the support of 123 elected MLAs, but defections are a cause of worry as withdrawal of support from six MLAs would bring down his government.
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