Edappadi K Palanisamy chairs Tamil Nadu Cabinet meet

This was the third Cabinet meeting chaired by Mr Palanisamy after he took over as Chief Minister on February 16 and later proved his majority in the State Assembly on February 18 with  the support of 122 MLAs.

The Cabinet meeting was believed to have discussed  about the prevailing drought situation in the state, the plight of the farmers and their demands, including  waiver of all farm loans, the drinking water scarcity in several parts of the state, the two bills that were sent for Presidential assent seeking to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET and the convening of the State Assembly to take up the demand for grants for various departments.

The Assembly session was convened briefly for tabling of the Budget in March and was adjourned sine die in view of the by-election to the RK Nagar Assembly seat.

It was then decided that the session would be convened again after the bypoll to take up the demand for grants for various departments.

Now that the byelection was cancelled following complaints of bribing voters, the opposition parties have been demanding convening of the session for taking up demand for grants for various departments.

The meeting was also believed to have discussed framing of policy guidelines to prevent registration of unauthorised plots and layouts following the High court ban. 

The meeting assumes significance as it was held in the backdrop of merger talks between the two warring factions of the AIADMK--the ruling AIADMK Amma headed by 

Palanisamy and AIADMK PTA led by rebel leader O Panneerselvam. Though both the camps have agreed for the merger and have formed committees, the talks remained a non-starter  with the OPS camp strident on its demand that V K Sasikala, now lodged in Bengaluru jail, and TTV Dinakaran, who was  also arrested and sent to Tihar jail in a bribery case, should  be ousted from the party, withdrawal of affidavit from the EC affirming them as General Secretary and Deputy General  Secretary of the party, and a CBI probe  into the death  of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

While Mr Palanisamy camp has been reiterating that they  were ready for unconditional talks anytime, the rebel team too  said they were willing, only after their demands were met.