AIADMK merger: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami on Thursday termed the appointment of TTV Dinakaran as AIADMK’s deputy general secretary ‘not acceptable’. This move by the EPS fraction is being seen as a signal pointing towards a possible AIADMK merger with the OPS fraction headed by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, according to Indian Express. VK Sasikala who is serving her term in the jail appointed nephew TTV Dinakaran as the deputy general secretary of the party in February, hours before she was sent to a Bengaluru jail in a case of disproportionate assets.

On August 10, a resolution signed by 27 office-bearers of the ‘EPS group’ challenged the decision by Sasikala to appoint her nephew Dinakaran. After the passing of the resolution on Thursday, Dinakaran cannot hold any position in the party, according to its bylaws. This is possible since Dinakaran had failed to maintain his primary membership for five years following his ouster by J Jayalalithaa, the party leader who died in January. Post the resolution, all the appointments made by AIADMK Deputy General Secretary T.T.V. Dinakaran now stand null and void, according to ANI. A leader of EPS faction was quoted saying, “Whatever appointments were made by T.T.V. Dinakaran are not according to the party law. We request the party cadre to ignore them.”

Also watch-

Earlier on Thursday, Tamil Nadu minister D. Jayakumar, while expressing her confidence over the possibility of an AIADMK merger between the EPS, OPS fraction said, “hope it happens soon.” On August 7, Palanisamy said he expects the much-anticipated-but-delayed merger of the two factions of the AIADMK. “I expect to see it soon,” he told reporters.

The possibility of a merger stands tall also because, if Dinakaran were to mobilize support — 37 MLAs were said to be backing him. This would endanger the Palaniswami government. DMK leader M Subramaniam, a close aide of M K Stalin said, “Officially, EPS has 123 MLAs, just five more than the minimum number 118. But 37 support Dinakaran. Even if OPS and EPS camps merge, Palaniswami gets only 10 more MLAs.”