Chennai: Senior Minister D. Jayakumar on Monday made a passionate plea for reconciliation leading to merger of the two AIADMK factions to ensure retrieval of the party’s two-leaves symbol and the government’s stability.
Reacting to the announcement made by former Chief Minister and rival faction leader O. Panneerselvam that he had disbanded his team for the merger talks as the rival EPS camp showed no honest intent to pursue reunification, Jayakumar said, “We want them (OPS) to come back for talks. The doors for negotiation are still open. We, estranged brothers, should unite”.
Even as he underscored the importance of reunification of the factions, the Minister said, “We are strong and stable. Our government cannot be shaken, not even by Stalin”.
Earlier in the day, OPS told reporters at his residence that there was no point in continuing with the merger team since the rival faction did not show interest and “have been enacting drama all along”.
“It’s now 125 days since we launched our dharma-yudham and the party broke into two factions. Both the groups formed teams for negotiating merger but they did not meet even once. They (EPS camp) have been enacting drama all along. That’s why we disbanded our talk team as there is no need for it anymore”, OPS said.
Showing yet again that the post-Jayalalithaa ‘democracy’ in the ruling party has also thrown up a bit of a political chaos as conflicting views and statements popped up every now and then from the seniors, Law Minister C. V. Shanmugam told the media at Delhi that his faction and the Government remained “very stable and solid” and was confident of getting the two-leaves symbol “even if the OPS group does not come for merger”. “Ninety five per cent of AIADMK office-bearers and cadres are with us (EPS)”, said the Minister.
