India / Palaniswami to be AIADMK's CM candidate for TN Assembly election

Chennai: Overcoming differences, albeit for now, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam on Wednesday announced incumbent Edappadi K Palaniswami as the party-led alliance’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2021 Assembly polls due in April-May 2021.

As part of the compromise formula, Palaniswami announced the constitution of an 11-member Steering Committee to oversee the party affairs with six of his supporters – all ministers – and five from Panneerselvam’s faction finding place in it.  

“I am happy to announce that the Presidium Chairman, other senior leaders and the Steering Committee unanimously resolves to project Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party for the 2020-21 assembly elections,” Panneerselvam said, as Palaniswami stood next to him.

Prior to the announcement, the duo paid floral tributes to the portraits of party leaders at the AIADMK headquarters and posed for cameras. OPS also presented EPS with a bouquet of flowers and a shawl. As the announcement was made, party cadre burst crackers and distributed sweets.

Though many termed the compromise as a “win-win situation” for the warring leaders, Palaniswami has managed to put his stamp all over with getting six of his cabinet colleagues, including two of his trusted lieutenants, in the Steering Committee. The OPS faction settled for five members – none of them hold any senior position in the party.

However, the Steering Committee did not have any woman representative in a party that was led by J Jayalalithaa for nearly three decades.  

Senior ministers Dindigul C Sreenivasan, P Thangamani, S P Velumani, D Jayakumar, C. Ve Shanmugam and R Kamaraj are Palaniswami’s nominees, while J C D Prabhakar, P H Manoj Pandian, P Mohan, Gopalakrishnan and Manickam are from OPS' faction.

The only thing Panneerselvam achieved was to get the Steering Committee appointed, a key demand that he has been stressing since he merged his faction with the AIADMK in August 2017. While retaining the joint coordinator post and getting his colleagues into the Steering Committee, Palaniswami has ensured that he will have more say in the party affairs too.

Though the powers of the Steering Committee are yet to be announced, the panel is expected to play a major role in taking key decisions on alliance and election-related issues. With six of his colleagues in the panel, Palaniswami will have a larger say in decisions.

The announcement preceded marathon talks that went through the night and the compromise formula was arrived at only in the wee hours of Wednesday. OPS, according to sources, made it clear that he will announce Palaniswami’s name only if the Steering Committee was formed.

Wednesday’s developments also ended the two-month-long tussle between Palaniswami and Panneerselvam on the issue of the Chief Ministerial nominee.

After the announcement, the two leaders drove straight to the memorials of party founder M G Ramachandran and former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and paid their tributes.