Speculations are ripe that AIADMK members from both factions have secretly begun merger talks The faction members who would not look at each others' faces eat lunch together Even in the assembly where one faction's members would tend to look away from their opponent, they now have lively conversations
Speculations are ripe that AIADMK members from both factions have secretly begun merger talks.
Minister Jayakumar had confirmed that members from both factions of AIADMK have been holding talks. But such a meeting was immediately denied by O Panneerselvam’s faction.
KP Munusamy, former AIADMK minister, said, “Unless they begin an investigation on Jayalalithaa’s death and decide to send Sasikala’s family out of the party, we would not agree to meet for the merger talks.”
Amidst these contradictory statements, the members of both factions were spotted having close bonding and lively conversations in the Assembly.
When asked about this an MLA from southern Tamil Nadu said, “It is mandatory for the party to merge. If they delay it further, the people will ignore both the teams in the future. This fact has struck fear within the two teams. So far both sides were stubborn in taking a stand, but the situation has completely changed now. In the beginning, when the MLAs from both the teams met, they would avoid eye contact and move away from the spot with the stern faces. Even as they maintained some friendliness with the DMK MLAs, they chose to be unfriendly towards their party members.”
“MLAs such as Semmalai, Saravanan, Chinnaraj, Pandiarajan of O Panneerselvam’s faction have been seen to have close interaction with the MLAs of EPS team. They more respect the Speaker as well. In the beginning, the MLAs who were stern towards OPS are now giving utmost respect to him,” he further added.
The minister suggested that things just might be getting back to normal between the factions.
“It is a custom in the Assembly that during the subsidy demands debate the concerned department minister should provide lunch for the MLAs. Usually, the opposition party members would avoid the lunch. In the beginning, the O Panneerselvam’s MLAs also avoided it just like the opposition party MLAs, but now they are having lunch together,” the minister concluded.
