Chennai: K Palaniswamy has been made the Chief Ministerial candidate for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for the Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections. A few hours before the announcement on Wednesday, sources aware of the whole matter said that O. Panneerselvam wanted his demand to set up an 11-member Steering Committee before the party’s announcement. In the year 2017, when the two groups merged, the main demand of the OPS camp was that a committee be formed.
Panneerselvam also had no objection to declaring Palaniswami’s name as the chief ministerial candidate. The two factions talked several times on forming a committee with key ministers including P. Thangamani, SP Velumani, D Jayakumar, and deputy coordinators – KP Munusamy and R Vaithilingam. At 4 am on Wednesday morning, Deputy Coordinator Vaithilingam told the media that the announcement was expected on Wednesday and said AIADMK would come to power once again.
Sasikala can be released in January
It was told that the announcement of the CM candidate was delayed due to hard bargaining with the OPS camp. Recently, an order was issued by the two top leaders, in which the cadre and leaders were not asked to speak publicly on the issue of the chief ministerial candidate after different opinions emerged.
This decision between the two groups is important before the return of AIADMK chief VK Sasikala, who is jailed on corruption charges. Sasikala is expected to be released from jail in January.
