AIADMK sees a flurry of activities as move to oust Sasikala clan from party gains momentum

CHENNAI: Political scene in Tamil Nadu is witnessing a flurry of activities on Tuesday, a day after several cabinet ministers met at state electricity minister P Thangamani's residence to discuss ways to strengthen the AIADMK and maintain unity in the party.

Ministers Dindigul C Sreenivasan, KA Sengottaiyan and Kadambur Raju met party deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran at his Adyar residence in the morning. Tamil Nadu's representative in New Delhi N Thalavai Sundaram, a confidante of Dhinakaran, was also present.

Dhinakaran, who went to Bengaluru on Monday to meet party general secretary VK Sasikala, returned to Chennai on Tuesday morning without meeting her.

The last few days saw hectic parleys between the factions led by O Panneerselvam (AIADMK - Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) and V K Sasikala (AIADMK - Amma).

"There is a growing demand in the party to keep Sasikala and her family members away from the party and the government given the recent developments involving Dhinakaran, which includes income tax raids and a bribery case against him filed by the crime branch of the Delhi police," said a senior minister who took part in the meeting at Thangamani's residence on Monday night.

Both factions have constituted two committees to hold talks on merger. "Both the committees will hold talks. We are firm that there should not be Sasikala family members in both the party and in the government," Panneerselvam told reporters in Periyakulam on Tuesday morning.

The OPS committee consists of Panneerselvam, former minister K P Munusamy, MLAs S Semmalai, K Pandiarajan, senior AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan, former minister Natham R Viswanathan, former MLA J C D Prabakar and former IT wing chief Aspire Swaminathan.

The Sasikala faction was yet to reveal the names of the committee members.