As Tamil Nadu is just months ahead from marking the deadline of the current assembly and government, the top political parties in the state have been gearing up to take on their rivals at the campaign trail and to enhance their strongholds to form the fresh government with their hope of getting a whopping mandate. 

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the state, and national political parties are eyeing to take the reign despite having been piled up with accusations and criticisms from the voters on the range of issues from the handling of the pandemic, corruption, economy, NEET issue, and other Central and state government policies. Both the ruling ADMK and opposition DMK parties have started the preparations for the next assembly polls.

The political heat between them was apparent during the just concluded state assembly session where the parties charged against each other over the suicides of NEET aspirants in the state. Following the session, the ADMK party is now going to chalk out its road ahead for the legislative elections and the party is going to convene a high-level meeting in Chennai on Friday -September 18. 

According to reports, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister Pannerselvam would be convening a meet at the party headquarters in the city during which the leaders are expected to discuss major issues and developments on the fray including the next assembly elections, holding the party's general council, and discussing the party affairs and issues. 

In what has become a significant meet for the party to signal the state that it is getting ready for the assembly polls, the high-level meeting would be attended by the ministers, senior leaders, and secretaries. According to reports, the party meeting would be discussing about convening the general council meet in November, rather than December. The general council meet would be crucial for the party as it has to ensure to clear and pacify the dissented leaders and factions before the elections. 

The party's general council meet would likely be dotting up the speculations on who would be the Chief Ministerial candidate in the 2021 polls. Friday's meeting would be convened at a high time when the party had recently witnessed the intra-party furor, controversies, and differences of opinions which had driven to the rise of speculations on who would be the Chief Ministerial candidate in the next elections. Some of the senior ministers left the party members to get perplexed over their remarks on whether Edappadi Palaniswami would retain the office or the baton would go to Panneerselvam. 

Last month, the state witnessed the political drama after the senior ministers drove to and fro the residences of the Chief Minister and his deputy in the Chief Ministerial race. The episode of drama came to an end after Chief Minister EPS and Deputy OPS had issued a joint statement and warned the senior leader to constrain from giving statements independently without the consent of the party's leadership. 

The meeting would be convened at a high time when the talks of the release of VK Sasikala from the Central prison have occupied the political space in the state. Sasikala's release could cause a political storm in the ruling ADMK party and if the recent reply from the RTI holds legitimacy, Sasikala would likely be released from the prison on January 27, 2021. However, the senior ministers of the ADMK party had maintained that her release would have no impact on the ADMK. 

Friday's meeting would be the first high-level meeting after the intra-party furor and the reports say that the meeting would likely announce the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party in the upcoming assembly polls and would frame the policies and chalk out the alliance during the polls, as the ADMK would be having the toughest political fights in the absence of the full-time leader. Earlier, Tamil Nadu BJP had asserted that it would lead the alliance in the state assembly polls. The 2021 assembly polls would be the first polls for the party after the demise of Jayalalithaa and the first for Edappadi Palaniswami as the Chief Minister who hopes to become a perfect successor for the late leader.