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A shotgun merger

The government of Edappadi K Palaniswami of the AIADMK (Amma) faction with the support of 122 MLAs was stable and…

A shotgun merger

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami along with the state's former chief minister O Paneerselvam during the merger of the two factions of AIADMK (Photo: IANS)

The government of Edappadi K Palaniswami of the AIADMK (Amma) faction with the support of 122 MLAs was stable and doing fine without bothering much about the rival AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) faction led by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, having the support of 11 MLAs. But the national leadership of the BJP wanted the two factions to merge and join the National Democratic Alliance. A couple of weighty berths in the Union Council of Ministers were held out as bait. By drafting the AIADMK in the NDA, the BJP would automatically become an ally of the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu which would help the saffron party snatch a sizeable number of Lok Sabha seats from the State in 2019, according to its strategists in Delhi.

Panneerselvam had three pre-conditions for the merger: restoration of his chief ministership, ordering a judicial inquiry into the death of Jayalalitha, former Chief Minister, and divesting Sasikala, who is serving a four-year jail sentence in the disproportionate asset case, from the post of general secretary of the AIADMK and expelling her from primary membership of the party. Palaniswami was in no mood to step down as Chief Minister. Ordering a judicial inquiry into the death of Jayalalitha was within his capacity.

Only the general council of the AIADMK has the power to remove Sasikala as general secretary. But the BJP could not wait. It set the weekend of 18- 20 August as deadline for the merger and ordered Vidya Sagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra, who has been given additional charge of Tamil Nadu, to be present in Chennai. He brought about a shotgun merger of the two AIADMK factions by noon of 21 August and swore in Panneerselvam as Deputy Chief Minister.

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The forced merger, instead of adding stability to the Palaniswami government, deprived it of its legislative majority. Even before the ink on the merger document could dry, 19 AIADMK (Amma) MLAs led by TTV Dinakaran, deputy general secretary, called on the Governor, submitted individually signed letters withdrawing support to Palaniswami and said they wanted a new Chief Minister appointed. Instead of asking Palaniswami to prove his majority in the Assembly within a reasonable time, the Governor left for Mumbai. In the midst of the political upheavals following the death of Jayalalitha, the Centre has left Tamil Nadu without a full-time Governor for almost a year now. Apart from the 19 rebel MLAs, a number of Ministers in the Palaniswami government are Sasikala loyalists. Only on 29 December 2016 the AIADMK general council unanimously selected Sasikala as general secretary. The same council is unlikely to dump her to please Palaniswamy, handpicked by her for the Chief Minister’s post. Politics in Tamil Nadu is getting more and more curious.

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