Six months after a bitter parting of ways following the death of chief minister J Jayalalithaa, the two factions of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam merged yesterday with rebel leader O Panneerselvam becoming the Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister and party co-ordinator.
The party also decided to sack the now jailed V K Sasikala as general secretary.
Panneerselvam, who was twice chief minister when Jayalalithaa was jailed and again after she died in December, also got back his Finance portfolio besides Housing. He quit as chief minister the last time in February after differences with Sasikala, a long-time Jayalalithaa aide.
Immediately after the merger, Pannerselvam was sworn in as deputy chief minister along with his supporter K Pandiarajan, who was made minister for Archaeology, Tamil Language and Tamil Culture at a brief ceremony for which Governor Vidyasagar Rao flew in from Mumbai. Pandiarajan was earlier the minister for Higher Education.
With the foe-turned-friend Chief Minister K Palaniswami by his side, Pannerselvam signed the files at the Raj Bhavan.
The merger of the two factions came after weeks of hectic parleys, overcoming the acrimony and last-minute tough conditions set by the Panneerselvam group which insisted on an announcement about Sasikala’s removal. She is now in a Bengaluru jail for corruption.
AIADMK sources said the Bharatiya Janata Party played a role in the merger of the two factions though officially Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party has denied this. The merged AIADMK is poised to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and could become a part of the Modi government.
The much-awaited coming together of the two factions was announced at a function at the AIADMK headquarters where Palaniswami disclosed the changes within the party.
The chief minister will be the joint co-ordinator while Panneerselvam faction leader K P Munuswami and Palaniswami faction leader and MP Vaithyalingam will be the deputy co-ordinators. An 11-member Guidance Committee will steer the merged AIADMK, he said.
Vaithyalingam, who spoke against family rule at the event, announced that the AIADMK General Council will meet soon to remove Sasikala, who was appointed general secretary by the same body after Jayalalithaa died on December 5 last year.
Veteran leader C Ponnaiyan said that the appointment was illegal as the general secretary can only be elected by the party’s primary members.
Speaking at the party headquarters, Panneerselvam said differences between the two groups had been sorted out and the leaders had come together to protect the government and the legacy of the party’s founder late M G Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa.
“We cannot remain divided. We are all children of Jayalalithaa. And what we are doing is in keeping with the interest of people of Tamil Nadu and 1.5 crore cadre of the AIADMK,” he said, calling it a historic merger.
He thanked Palaniswami for the merger. “I feel unburdened.”
Welcoming the rival group, the chief minister thanked “elder brother” Paneerselvam for the unity which he said would realise the dreams of MGR and Jayalalithaa.
The newly-appointed deputy co-ordinator Munuswami said the party should work without prejudices against leaders and cadres belonging to both former factions.
Meanwhile, the smaller faction headed by T T V Dinakaran, Sasikala’s nephew, and the AIADMK deputy general secretary, has warned the party against sacking them.
Dinakaran is said to enjoy the support of a dozen MLAs. Leaders of the faction attacked both Panneerselvam and Palaniswami. Pugazhendi, president of the AIADMK’s Karnataka unit, said the Dinakaran faction would not allow the government to continue.
After the merger ceremony, all top leaders, including Panneerselvam and Palaniswami, drove to the memorials of Jayalalithaa, MGR and C N Annadurai, the first chief minister of the then undivided Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, on the Marina beach.
Earlier, Panneerselvam was received enthusiastically at the party headquarters by AIADMK cadres who presented him stoles and bouquets. It was his first visit to the office in six months. Hundreds celebrated the occasion by bursting firecrackers.




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