OPS, EPS bargain hard for ‘unity’

CHENNAI: The parleys for merger of the two AIADMK factions — one led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and the other by former chief minister O Panneerselvam — is turning turned into a fierce battle for the chief minister’s post.

None of the two groups has an absolute majority in the 233-member Assembly. The ruling faction is determined to keep Palaniswami as CM and leave for OPS at most the party general secretary’s post.

The fighter and hard negotiator Panneerselvam, however, is in no mood for such a deal. “First and foremost, in case of a compromise between the warring factions, the CM post is more certain. But the party general secretary (GS) post, going by the AIADMK bylaw, is a long shot. The person has to be elected by the 1.5 crore cadres; and not by the functionaries. If there is more than one contestant, we will have to go through a process akin to the general election. No one can select a GS,” said one faction leader.

The AIADMK is today paying the price for the

extra caution its founder M G Ramachandran exercised while framing party constitution. After he was expelled by M Karunanidhi from the DMK, MGR introduced a bylaw, which made removal of a general secretary next to impossible.

“In short, for the time being, there cannot be any meaningful discussion between the Edappadi and OPS factions on the GS post,” said an MLA in the OPS camp.