No consensus on candidate

Despite the unity message given by the Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, consensus eluded the party at the administrative council meeting held on Monday in the city and the leadership paved the way for a contest among the ticket seekers by inviting applications to contest in the seat. 

However, the party managed to fill up the vacancies in the administrative council caused by the deaths of former general secretary J Jayalalithaa and Vishalakshi Nedunchezhian after some initial opposition. The new members of the council are Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami besides former minister KP Munusamy, a loyalist of deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and former minister R Vaithilingam.

Contrary to expectations that AIADMK presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan would become an automatic choice, the administrative council meeting held on Monday opened the door for a contest, asking ticket seekers to file their applications within two days. 

Party leaders denied existence of differences and said allowing applications from ticket seekers was the procedure followed by Jayalalithaa. She used to scrutinise applications and select candidates after going through the merits of the applicants, a senior leader said and added that the same democratic process is being followed now.