The confusion that persisted within the AIADMK has come to an end for now. After the midnight marathon meetings between the leaders which lasted till 3:30 am, a truce was reached by both the camp leaders. On Wednesday, AIADMK cadres started gathering outside the party office at 7 am, and police were deployed in huge numbers to control the crowd outside the party office.
O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami reached the party office one after the other amidst the sloganeering and celebrations of their cadres at 9:30 am. Both the leaders immediately rushed up the conference hall and signed the documents relating to the announcement of the CM candidate and steering committee.
First EPS raised and announced the formation of the 11-member steering committee and announced the members of the steering committee in the ratio as demanded by the OPS. The composition of the steering committee will have 6 members from the EPS side and 5 members from the OPS side. The steering committee will come into effect after gratification for the party general council which is expected to convene in December.
Right after EPS finishing his announcement, OPS announced that EPS will be the CM candidate for the 2021 Assembly elections and has also added that it is a unanimous decision taken by the party and he is wholeheartedly making the announcement.
Taking a dig at Sasikala, OPS said, “It is the dream of the MGR, that the party should always be at the hands of cadres, is coming to a reality today”.
Immediately after the announcement, both the leaders garlanded the J. Jayalalithaa and MGR statues inside the party office amidst loud cheers from the cadres. Then they proceeded to Jayalalithaa’s under-construction memorial and sought blessings from the late Chief Minister.
The hectic parleys between both the leaders went on till 3:30 am and ministers were shuttling between both the leaders’ residences. The late-night developments ensued after Panneerselvam categorically stated that the announcement of the CM candidate cannot be announced as decided until the 11-member steering committee is formed and he also made it clear that there should be equal representation for all the communities in the committee.
As demanded by the OPS, the newly constituted 11-member steering committee will have representatives from all the communities. The new composition will have 2 from Thevar community, 2 from Kongu Vellalar Gounder, 1 from Vanniyar, 1 from Nadar Christian, 1 from Yadhavar, 1 from Udayar, 1 from Devendhra Kulla Vellalar, 1 from fisherman and 1 from Christian Vanniyar. Interestingly, the party which was headed by a woman for decades didn’t have any space for a woman in the steering committee.