Chennai, The cracks in the opposition AIADMK deepened on Tuesday with a group of MLAs led by senior leaders SP Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam alleging that party president Edappadi K Palaniswami wanted to join hands with arch-rival DMK to keep TVK out of the ruling saddle. They extended their support to the C Joseph Vijay-led administration, which will face a floor test on Wednesday.
About 30 MLAs, including the two senior leaders, are believed to be in the camp opposing Palaniswami’s leadership in the wake of the party’s defeat in the April 23 elections, where it won 47 of the 164 seats it contested.
The party slammed the rival MLA camp over their criticism of Palaniswami and termed “rumours” his claims that he wanted to join hands with the DMK.
Rumblings in the MGR-founded AIADMK have led to speculation that the party is headed towards a split, similar to that which came in the wake of the former’s death in 1987 and also after the death of Chief Minister Jay Jayalalithaa in December 2016.
On Tuesday, the Velumani-Shanmugam-led camp said they have decided to support the TVK government led by Chief Minister Vijay.
Speaking to reporters, Shanmugam said that they will meet Vijay this afternoon to deliver a message in support of his government.
He also claimed that party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami wanted to form a government with the support of the DMK.
Senior AIADMK leaders urged Palaniswami to convene a meeting of the party’s general council to comprehensively deliberate on the reasons for the electoral defeat and to strengthen the party for the future.
“But he wanted to form a government with the support of the DMK,” he said, adding, “The proposal goes against the basic principles of the AIADMK.”
Pointing out that the AIADMK was floated to oppose and “uproot” the DMK, Shanmugam said all party members opposed Palaniswami’s proposal to form the government with the support of the MK Stalin-led party.
He added that the party needs “a new life now” and the “Amma base” must return and hence support TVK.
The MLAs elected Velumani as their leader.
Meanwhile, the AIADMK has taken an ‘X’ stance to strongly defend Palaniswami.
She said in her official address that those who were unable to win in their regions “unleashed a bag of lies.”
“Have the rumors in the media about an alliance with DMK been your plan? If so, there are reports that the three of you are demanding ministerial positions with TVK. Will you accept it?”
She added that they are not authorized to make decisions about alliances.
She added that the 1,34,25,260 votes the party received at the polls were for the AIADMK, “for our alliance, for the two pages, and for the People’s Congress party called Edappadiar”.
She said that Palaniswami painstakingly managed the party and that the workers were only with him. The AIADMK was not a party with a few MLAs but was a party built on cadre strength.
“They have decided now,” she claimed.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
