CHENNAI: Murmurs over who would be the Chief Ministerial candidate of the AIADMK continued on Thursday, even as senior ministers insisted that there was no trouble within the party. Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam attended routine works at the Secretariat, but was not present for the launch of One Nation One Ration Card scheme by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Speaking after paying homage to actor Sivaji Ganesan at his memorial along with Panneerselvam, Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar appealed to his party functionaries not to discuss internal affairs such as the CM candidate choice in public, especially since both the top leaders – Palaniswami and Panneerselvam – had asked them not to do so.
“Our political adversaries are waiting desperately to spot any differences in opinion amongst us. We should not give room for that,” Jayakumar said while reacting to remarks made by Minister for Forests Dindigul C Sreenivasan. Earlier, Sreenivasan had expressed his view that Palaniswami would be the CM candidate of the party.
A couple of hours after Jayakumar’s comment, reporters caught up with Sreenivasan again in Dindigul. Sreenivasan admitted that he, indeed, had committed a mistake, and wound up the press meet without saying anything further. Meanwhile in Tiruchy, Tourism Minister Vellamandi N Natarajan reacted to Sreenivasan’s views by saying that he would rather wait for his party high command to make an announcement about the CM candidate. In Vellore, Minister for Commercial Taxes KC Veeramani said there was no confusion in the party over the matter.