The merger prospects for the two warring AIADMK factions in Tamil Nadu suddenly brightened on Friday with both sides forming their respective panels to hold talks on a possible patch-up.
The AIADMK (Amma) group led by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami held a meeting at the party headquarters and decided to form a seven-member team comprising senior ministers to hold talks with rival leader O Panneerselvam’s faction.
Similarly, the Panneerselvam camp also announced that a committee would be formed soon to hold merger talks, considering the interests of party cadres.
The panel formed by the Edappadi group will be headed by AIADMK Rajya Sabha member R Vaithilingam and would comprise senior ministers P Thangamani, K A Sengottaiyan, S P Velumani, Dindigul Srinivasan, D Jayakumar and C Ve Shanmugam.
“Whenever they (Panneerselvam’s group) are ready, we will hold talks,” Vaithilingam said. A source in the party said that Palaniswami had instructed ministers not to express their personal views after the Panneerselvam camp felt “insulted” by remarks of a senior party leader, which had stalled the merger talks.
Later in the evening, the Panneerselvam camp also formed a seven-member committee led by former minister K P Munusamy for merger talks with the Edappadi group.
Meanwhile, Madhavan, husband of the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa, launched the MGR JJ DMK, and claimed that his party would unite the AIADMK.
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