For the first time since the tussle emerged between both the factions of the ADMK party over the race for the Chief Minister in the upcoming assembly polls, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam have come together by sharing the stage in the event that was convened by the government. 

On Friday, both the rivaling leaders had attended the events together that was organized to commemorate Gandhi Jayanthi and the death anniversary of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Kamarajar. All eyes were on both the leaders as met each other and shared the stage together along with the senior leaders and ministers. As they came eye to eye for the first time since the tug-of-war and tussle, it was strongly expected that the leaders would meet and mitigate the intra-party furor. 

However, according to reports, both the leaders stayed on their lines and they didn't have any conversation, signaling that they have lesser space and possibilities in attaining a truce ahead of the elections. The party's executive committee meeting that was held on Monday in Chennai had prefixed the political skirmish against the factions, leaving the party to face a backlash. The meeting had witnessed the heated arguments between both the top leaders with either of them claiming that they had a right to contest as the Chief Minister for the party. 

இன்று (2.10.2020) கல்விக்கண் திறந்த கர்மவீரர் பெருந்தலைவர் காமராசர் அவர்களின் நினைவு நாளையொட்டி, சென்னை கிண்டியில் பெருந்தலைவர் காமராசர் அவர்களின் நினைவிடத்தில் மரியாதை செலுத்திய போது.. #காமராசர் #kamarajar pic.twitter.com/CUIlNACHyL

— O Panneerselvam (@OfficeOfOPS) October 2, 2020

With the intensified tussle and lesser grounds of reaching a consensus, the meeting was concluded after bringing the behind the screens fight to the light. After the meeting, senior leader KP Munusamy said that the party would be announcing the CM candidate on October 7. According to reports, since the tussle, both the leaders had seen a drifting relationship with back to back meetings and discussion with their respective leaders to enhance their bid and support to win the CM race. 

The senior leaders had held hectic and chaotic parleys between the two factions. However, there has no development towards consensus and Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam has been demanding Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami to name him as the party's next General Secretary and to install the steering committee in the party, which the former said it was agreed when he merged his faction with the latter. However, the Chief Minister has been against the proposed demands. 

As the party has been unfolding a high-level drama, the supporters of the party and the leaders of the other political leaders have been eyeing for the ADMK's announcement on October 7, during which the party asserted that it would be declaring the Chief Ministerial candidate. On Friday, the party had issued orders to the party MLAs to be present in Chennai on October 6, one day ahead of the CM candidate announcement. The internal communication of the order to the MLAs was officially published by the party on its Twitter handle. However, hours later, the tweet was removed. 

Amid such developments, both the Chief Minister and Deputy CM had shared the stage together on Friday along with Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit and they paid floral tribute to the Gandhi statue and attended the event organized to pay tribute to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kamarajar on his death anniversary. Earlier, some of the senior ministers had maintained that there has been no tussle between the leaders and asserted that the CM candidate of the party would be announced on October 7.