All eyes on CM's chair as OPS, Palaniswami plan reunion

The dramatic late-night announcement by finance minister D Jayakumar on Tuesday that the AIADMK be rescued from T T V Dhinakaran and family have cleared the decks for talks between the two factions; now the big bones of contention would be the chief minister's chair and crucial portfolios.

The sheer necessity for political survival has forced the two groups to work towards a broad consensus for a possible merger.

While the trial proceedings in the two money laundering cases against Dhinakaran picked up steam in recent weeks, the FIR filed against him by the Delhi crime branch for allegedly bribing EC officials, is a huge blow to him.

Beleaguered AIADMK (Amma) faction leader TTV Dhinakaran on Wednesday struck a conciliatory note, saying he had no problem with the merger of rival party factions and felt the rebellion against him was due to some "fear".

The Deputy General Secretary of the V K Sasikala faction of the AIADMK also said that he had "stepped aside" on Tuesday night itself in the interest of the party and made it clear that the MLAs' meet called by him was not a show of strength.

Meanwhile, rebel AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister O Panneerslevam on Wednesday described the ministers' revolt against the rival Amma faction leader TTV Dhinakaran as the "first success" of his "dharma yudh" against V K Sasikala.

Panneerselvam said he had launched the 'dharma yudh' with the help of his supporters, including MPs and MLAs, in an effort to ensure that the AIADMK did not go into hands of Sasikala's family.

He was reacting to the ministers' decision late Tuesday night to keep away Sasikala, Dhinakaran and their families from the AIADMK and the affairs of its government.