A balanced power play

Ending days of dithering and suspense, leaders of both factions of the AIADMK met at the party office on Avvai Shanmugam Salai on Monday. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and former CM O Panneerselvam shook hands to symbolise the merger of the two camps.

Then the Chief Minister announced OPS as the coordinator for the party and himself as the joint coordinator. KP Munusamy and MP P Vaidyalingam were named deputy coordinators of the AIADMK until a permanent arrangement was put in place. “A 11-member party guidance committee would also be set up,” EPS announced.

Terming the merger historic, he called on party functionaries to work untiedly for the continuation of the legacy founded by MGR and developed by Jayalalithaa.

Adding that the merger was a hammer blow for those who expected the government to fall, he said, “This merger was the fulfillment of the wishes of cadre, who wanted the party to be united. The wish of Jayalalithaa that the party rule should continue for 100 years will also be brought to fruition.” With OPS conceding the CM post to Palaniswami and the latter willing to be a joint coordinator in running party affairs, the two leaders seemed to have worked out a perfect deal-clincher. The composition of the 11-member committee, according to sources, would be finalised later.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam accompanied by KP Munusamy and PH Pandian arrived at the party headquarters around 2 45 pm, while

Palaniswami and his cabinet colleagues and MLAs arrived at the venue 15 minutes earlier and were on hand to welcome OPS back into their fold. With the OPS camp reiterating on total removal of VK Sasikala held up the merger for a while, the visit of both leaders to the party office initially scheduled for 11 45 am was slightly delayed to 12 30 pm.