EPS, TTV camps locked in a full-blown battle
CHENNAI: Refusing to yield ground to sidelined deputy general secretary T T V Dhinakaran and his extended family, a team of ministers from the ruling camp asked him to stay away from the affairs of the party and the government.
“We are firm in our stand not to have any truck with Dhinakaran and his family members. We do not have any contact with them, nor are we depending on them. We are running the government without anyone’s interference. Party functionaries at all levels don’t have confusion; they will not meet Dhinakaran,” asserted Finance Minister D Jayakumar, a senior leader of the faction led by Chief Minister ‘Edappadi’ K Palaniswami.
Flanked by senior members of the Cabinet, Jayakumar addressed the media after a two-hour long emergency meeting on Monday afternoon – around the same time Dhinakaran was huddled in a meeting with the AIADMK general secretary and his aunt V K Sasikala at Parappana Agraharam prison in Bengaluru.
Emerging from the meeting, he responded that Sasikala had asked him to give the ruling faction 60 more days to address pending issues, including merger of the factions and retrieving the symbol.
Out from the Delhi prison on bail in the AIADMK symbol bribery case only two days ago, Dhinakaran had asserted that he would engage actively in party work since staying away did not help the merger of two factions.
The State cabinet, after the meeting, consulted the Chief Minister before meeting the media.
“In April, we had unanimously decided to keep Dhinakaran and family members away from the affairs of the party and government. He, too, had accepted this the same evening. Since, he had commented about resuming party works, we are forced to clarify our stand,” Jayakumar said.
In short, the message from the EPS faction was: We can manage the show on our own; please stick to your promise and keep away.
Dhinakaran’s supporters were upset. They warned that the ruling faction would have to pay a heavy price if they sidelined the family. “The decision taken by a handful of ministers is unilateral. If they force it on us, they will have to face the consequences,” said MLA and Dhinakaran crony P Vetrivel.