Chennai: The AIADMK merger move hit another roadblock on Monday with the two camps accusing each other of delaying the process by throwing up impossible, irrelevant and silly demands. Insiders in both the groups say that the outcome of the grilling of party deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran by the Delhi crime branch police will have a bearing on the 'merger' effort.
Addressing a press conference outside the house of O. Panneerselvam, spokesman KP Munusamy sounded bitter and belligerent alleging that the rival camp of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami appeared to be "in a state of confusion" with multiple voices tossing different views. It was clear that “some unseen hand” was controlling them all, he said.
Illustrating, he pointed to an article in the AIADMK mouthpiece, Namadhu MGR which proclaimed that the party was firmly behind Chinnamma (Sasikala) and Dhinakaran. “This is coming from somewhere. This is not welcome”, Munusamy said. Several party seniors and ex-ministers, all looking equally angry, were with him during the blast. The scene was similar at the AIADMK headquarters where the head of the Edappadi talk-team and Rajya Sabha member R. Vaithilingam gathered his faction lieutenants to launch an attack on the OPS camp.
Insisting there was no confusion in their camp as they had already announced their seven-member negotiation team, he said it was not proper for Munusamy to stick to the demand that the party should expel the entire Sasikala-Dhinakaran clan before talks could begin. Not just their expulsion, Munusamy had also reiterated another vital OPS demand - CM Palanisami should recommend to the Centre to order CBI probe into the treatment and demise of Jayalalithaa. "But where was the need to make such a demand when a PIL seeking such probe is pending before the High Court?" asked Vaithilingam. Let the court decide and CM Edappadi will surely implement it, he said, adding that the issue of ejecting Sasikala and clan too should be look at once at the Election Commission, where a petition from OPS challenging her appointment as general secretary is pending. "It is outright silly to hide behind the EC petition and court PIL", said J.C.D. Prabhakar, a member of the seven-member negotiation team of OPS. "Both these petitions would be withdrawn as infructuous the moment they (Edappadi camp) concede our two demands. These irrelevant excuses are only meant to block our reconciliation effort".
"The issue before EC is whether Sasikala can be the party general secretary. When all of us, including their (Edappadi) camp, decide she and the rest of her family will have nothing to do with the AIADMK, where is the question of her general secretary position?" thundered Prabhakar. If there were some signs of thaw on the merger moves last week, which even led to the two groups forming teams for talks, hopes seem to be fast evaporating as many contesting voices, often shrill, are now threatening the peace. Perhaps an 'external' push from Delhi might help in getting some order in this cacophony.
