The banners featuring All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) General Secretary, V.K. Sasikala were removed from the headquarters of the party in Chennai.

This move happened, a day after the rival O Paneerselvam (OPS) camp, made such a demand to “uphold the sanctity” of the party office. Further, the OPS camp welcomed the move saying it was a “positive step.”

The banners were removed this morning. The Presidium Chairman of the OPS led faction, E Madusudanan, yesterday, had made the demand of the removal of portraits of Sasikala from the party office. Media Coordinator of the Panneerselvam led AIADMK, “Aspire” K Swaminathan, said “This is definitely a positive step.” The move came in “continuance” to Madusudanan’s appeal and said, “We are happy the cadres have decided to remove the banners,” said Swaminathan. Meanwhile, Paneerselvam yesterday stated that a “conducive” atmosphere was evolving in both camps for talks, on the merger.

As a pre-condition for talks on the AIADMK merger, the OPS camp also repeatedly demanded for an investigation into the death of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Earlier, it was assumed that both the factions would begin talks on the merger on Monday. But, two events - one on Sunday and the other on Monday, triggered the hardening of stance by the OPS faction. The first where, the state Finance Minister, D Jayakumar, said he would resign and allocate his portfolios to the OPS camp. This clearly indicated that, E Palanisamy would remain the CM in the event of an AIADMK merger, thus scrambling chances of Paneerselvam to become the CM. The second event, was in the AIADMK official newspaper, Namadhu MGR, which carried an article in today’s edition, stating Sasikala and Dinakaran would be supported by people and party cadre. The OPS camp, in response to both the events, said Sasikala was still in control of the party. Member of OPS negotiations committee and former minister, Munusamy quoted saying, “this proves our doubt that the party is still in their hands.” There is a lot of confusion in the rival camp, with different statements being made. While some members of the EPS camp claimed that a committee had been formed for talks, while others said it was yet to be formed, added Munuswamy.”

Now, this new move could be a positive step for the rival OPS camp !

AIADMK Leader TTV Dinakaran Arrested By Delhi Police

By Supraja