Lotus Effect

BJP hand suspected as AIADMK factions bury their differences to oust the Sasikala clan.

- Lakshmi Subramanian

When India’s guided missile destroyer INS Chennai sailed into the Tamil Nadu coast for the first time, no one would have imagined that it would serve as a venue for further political realignments in Tamil Nadu. Three days later on April 18, the 163-metre-long warship, which was anchored off the Marina beach, not too far from the Jayalalithaa memorial, hosted around 100 MLAs and ministers of the ruling AIADMK. Unlike the time they spent together at the Koovathur resort a couple of months ago to ensure the primacy of their leader V.K. Sasikala, the legislators this time were exploring the options to keep Sasikala and her nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran out of the party.

The invitation for the MLAs to visit the ship was extended by Chief Minister K. Palaniswami. Although the CM stayed away from the meeting, the MLAs and their family members took the opportunity to bond with each other and to talk freely about their future course of action.

Palaniswami got the idea of such a meeting from senior AIADMK leader and Lok Sabha deputy speaker M. Thambidurai. The two leaders had met twice on April 17. Emerging out of the meeting, Thambidurai, who was instrumental in getting Sasikala to lead the party, said, “There is only a difference of opinion among us. There is no split in the AIADMK.” Thambidurai reportedly took the lead in restoring unity in the party after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi a couple of weeks ago.