CHENNAI: AIADMK, which slipped to third place in this election from being the principal Opposition party, plunged into a deep crisis on Saturday, with around 35 MLAs going into a huddle at the office of former minister CVe Shanmugam. Sources said that who will lead the AIADMK’s legislature party this time has become a bone of contention among other issues.
The hush-hush meeting took place a few hours after AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami chaired one at his residence. After the meeting, Palaniswami greeted the party that will form the next government in Tamil Nadu, indicating that AIADMK is not part of the political formations in the state.
Sources said some senior leaders wished for the continuance of Palaniswami as the leader of the legislature party; SP Velumani and CVe Shanmugam emerged as the front-runners for the post after many rounds of discussions. However, no decision has been made.
Though there were speculations that Palaniswami offered to resign as general secretary owning responsibility for AIADMK’s poor show in the elections and that this issue was also part of the discussions among the party’s newly-elected MLAs, this could not be confirmed from the leaders since they were tight-lipped about it. The leaders, including AIADMK deputy general secretary K P Munusamy and O S Manian, called on Palaniswami in the evening and left the latter’s residence in a gloomy mood.
All MLAs, including senior leaders like R B Udhayakumar and others who were part of the meeting held at Shanmugam’s office, remained tight-lipped about what was going on. When reporters asked them to reveal for the sake of their party cadre, who are worried about the ongoing developments, the MLAs passed through maintaining a studied silence.
When reporters pestered him with questions like who will be the leader of the legislative party, the leader of AIADMK and whether the party was heading for a split again, and whether AIADMK will support the TVK government, Udhayakumar said, “Please be calm and wait. Good news will come.”
After the discussions at Shanmugam’s office, a few MLAs, including Puducherry state secretary Anbazhagan, visited Palaniswami’s residence.
After the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, AIADMK faced numerous issues, including legal matters, and Palaniswami, overcoming them, stabilised his position as the party’s general secretary. Now, Palaniswami himself is facing a crisis since he could not steer the party to victory in the recent Assembly elections.
