NDA constituents AIADMK and BJP have started preliminary discussions for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Key leaders from both parties met to discuss strategies to defeat the DMK government and strengthen their alliance.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday announced walking out of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and said it would lead a separate front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Panneerselvam, writing to Palaniswami said AIADMK workers have been incensed since opinions were expressed over single and dual leadership at a party meet on June 14.
A division bench of the Madras high court on Thursday dismissed a contempt application seeking to punish former Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Edappadi K Palaniswami and his supporters for alleged non-implementation of its earlier orders.
After maintaining that the National Democratic Alliance leadership would announce the chief ministerial candidate, following poll notification, the Saffron party appeared to have made a climbdown.
There are two such seats in Tamil Nadu and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Madhya Pradesh.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general council meeting on Monday revived the general secretary post, and picked Edappadi K Palaniswami as the interim GS.
While followers of both Palaniswami (EPS) and Panneerselvam (OPS) were engaged in backroom negotiations to mobilise the support of party functionaries for their respective leaders, parleys continued as well to resolve the bickering well ahead of the June 23 General Council meeting.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's dominant Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) camp on Monday slammed rival leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) as a symbol of 'betrayal' and said the upcoming general council meet shall decide whether OPS would continue as party treasurer or not.
The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhaga on Monday charged Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi with having encroached on some land behind his Gopalpuram residence and said legal action would be taken in this regard and in similar cases detected by the government government.
Raveendranath, the party's Lok Sabha member from Theni constituency and Jeyapradeep, both sons of Panneerselvam and a former Minister, Vellamandi N Natarajan were expelled.
Bharatiya Janata Party nominee S Selvaganapathy was declared elected unopposed to the lone seat in Rajya Sabha from Puducherry, the first time the saffron party has got representation in the Upper House from the Union Territory, while Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's two nominees, Kanimozhi N V N Somu and K R N Rajeshkumar, were elected without contest from Tamil Nadu.
The party HQ, addressed as 'Thalamai Kazhagam' in Tamil, now has only banners of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
The 62-year old MP representing Villupuram suffered serious head injuries and died on the spot on Saturday morning.
Amid chaos, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general council meeting in Chennai on Thursday rejected all the 23 proposed resolutions and announced that the one and only demand of the GC members is to bring in a system of a single leadership for the party, favouring joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS).
AIADMK coordinator and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam, who has also staked his claim for being the chief ministerial candidate of the party in the polls next year, for the second consecutive day held discussions with party leaders at his residence in Chennai.
AIADMK coordinator and Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam was closeted with a section of leaders on Tuesday, skipping a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Covid-19, a day after the two crossed swords over who should lead the party in the 2021 assembly elections.
Asking her to keep away from the party, senior party leader K P Munusamy asserted that under no circumstances could Sasikala enter the AIADMK.
"Let us all together stop the party and government from going into the hands of a single family again. Let us form a people's government again in sync with the aspirations of people and till then this struggle will continue," he said.
Vijayakanth said the decision to snap ties with the AIADMK was taken following a unanimous view reached at a consultative meeting with party's district secretaries in Chennai.
OPS also requested the EC to restarin Sisikala's pick Dindigul C Sreenivasan from functioning as the party treasurer
'If the EPS government falls, Sasikala will return. If EPS wins, he will become an indispensable leader and Sasikala will not be able to return.' T E Narasimhan reports.
The BJP has to endorse chief minister K Palaniswami's candidature for the CM's post for the polls and agree to its other terms -- like non-participation in government -- and if not, should rethink of its 2021 electoral options, the AIADMK indicated at its meet.
OPS said he was being "forced" to come up with such an announcement.
Party co-coordinator Palaniswami announced constitution of a 11-member steering committee which includes ministers Dindigul C Sreenivasan, P Thangamani, and S P Velumani.
'Both are mature enough to realise that a break will not benefit either of them and both will be losers'
V K Sasikala, late J Jayalalithaa's confidante would return to Tamil Nadu on February 7 from Bengaluru and a grand welcome from party cadres awaited her right from the state's border, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary T T V Dinakaran said in Madurai on Wednesday.
Allotting seven seats to smaller allies, AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Monday released the list naming candidates for the rest of 227 seats for which she held interviews for ticket aspirants from across Tamil Nadu in the past two weeks.
Panneerselvam also wanted withdrawal of affidavits submitted to the Election Commission declaring Sasikala and Dinakaran as party general secretary and deputy general secretary, respectively.
In signs of thaw on All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam merger move, the factions led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and the one by O Panneerselvam on Friday announced formation of their respective committees to hold discussions.
The OPS-led faction said the rival camp headed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami was 'in a state of confusion'..
As the merger brought to an end weeks of suspense during which there was tough negotiations, the two factions said steps would be taken to expel party chief V K Sasikala.
The twin announcements have virutally cleared the decks for the merger of the two factions.
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