The incessant leadership war in the ADMK between the top two leaders - Chief Coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS) and Joint Coordinator Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) has taken a shocking turn on Saturday - June 18 as the party's head office in Chennai has witnessed a clash between the cadres as several cadres were attacked by the opposite camp, which has further revealed the magnitude of the political crisis in the party. 

The ADMK is all set to hold the party's General Body meeting on June 23 and there has been a fresh round of tussle between the top two leaders over finalizing the resolutions that are to be passed in the meeting amid the growing chorus for the single leadership within the party. While Edappadi Palaniswami aims to become the General Secretary of the party by passing the resolution in the meeting, Panneerselvam and his faction are strongly opposing him and they have been promoting Panneerselvam as the next General Secretary. 

Ahead of the crucial meeting, the party's office has hosted a meeting on Saturday where the senior leaders including Panneerselvam had participated to work on the resolutions. As the leaders from both the factions arrive for the meeting, they were accompanied by their supporters. The meeting was attended by Panneerselvam, senior leaders D Jayakumar, CV Shanmugam, Vaithilingam, Valarmathi, Semmalai, and Ponnaiyin. While Edappadi Palaniswami was expected to attend, he had skipped the entire meeting. 

As Panneerselvam has arrived at the party's office amid locking horns with the Palaniswami camp, the meeting has drawn huge attention. While the leaders were on a wall-locked discussion, the cadres standing in front of the office had clashed with each other. Hundreds of cadres had gathered at the office and they raised slogans in support of their respective leaders. When former minister Jayakumar, who backs Palaniswami, arrived for the meeting, he was blocked by the supporters of Panneerselvam to show their strength to the Palaniswami camp. 

On the other hand, the supporters of Palaniswami had hailed their leader as the General Secretary and the war of words had then progressed to a melee, where the cadres had clashed and attacked each other. Dozens of cadres were injured and speaking to the reporters with an injury on his face, ADMK cadre Maarimuthu from Perambur, Chennai, has said that he was attacked after being asked whether he is a supporter of Edappadi Palaniswami. 

After sustaining a brutal attack, Maarimuthu went to Palaniswami's residence and urged the latter to take action against the attackers. According to reports, Palaniswami has assured Maarimuthu that appropriate action will be taken against the attackers. The visuals from the ADMK office had shown that the supporters of Panneerselvam have been raising slogans in support of him and they have been demanding that either Panneerselvam should be made the General Secretary or the post remain vacant. 

Tensions remain high in the ADMK as both the leaders are yet to reach a consensus to fix the leadership crisis. Our sources say that the General Body meeting on June 23 would see heated debates and arguments between the senior leaders over addressing the single leadership chorus in the party. Though EPS and OPS didn't meet in person since the crisis sported a new uncertainty, it has been reported that Palaniswami's camp has been trying to convince Panneerselvam to agree to a resolution at the General Council Meeting. Palaniswami has assured that he will provide the post of ADMK's Presidium Chairman to Panneerselvam, which is the second powerful post in the party, while the former will decorate the first one.