In what has become a never-ending political drama, the race to win the nomination for the Chief Minister in the ADMK for the upcoming state assembly polls has been getting intensified with the tussle between the top two leaders that recently broke out during the party's executive committee meeting. 

With Panneerselvam signaling to hold the banner of revolt if he didn't get named as the Chief Ministerial candidate, the party has been surfaced with high-level furor and speculations from the supporters and all eyes are on October 7 during which the party said it would be announcing the Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming legislative elections, the first state elections for Edappadi Palaniswami as the Chief Minister. 

On Monday, the party had convened the executive committee meeting only to witness the live tussle after Edappadi Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam had gone through heated arguments between each other in the presence of state ministers and senior leaders. Amid adopting 15 resolutions against the Central government, the committee had seen the heated discussion between the top two leaders as they both claimed their right to contest as the Chief Minister for the assembly polls. 

While Panneerselvam had said that he had agreed to be the Deputy Chief Minister for the current government and not for the next elections, Edappadi Palaniswami had said that he had performed his duties as Chief Minister well and his governance was appreciated by the Prime Minister and added that they both had risen in the party due to VK Sasikala. As the debate went high, it had signaled that the tussle between the leaders has grown stronger. 

The meeting, that lasted for over five hours, has ended with neither reaching a conclusion nor a consensus regarding the CM pick. While addressing the reporters, senior leader of the party KP Munusamy said that the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party for the upcoming elections would be announced on October 7, which had further stirred the speculations among both the factions and across the nation. 

On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam unfolded the high-level drama likely towards a fresh revolt after he skipped an important meet with the Chief Minister. As the state is nearing to hit the deadline of the current phase of the COVID-19 lockdown on September 30, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had convened a meeting on Tuesday with the district collectors and senior officials on the measures to contain the spread of the pandemic in the state. 

Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam would usually attend the meet and he would be seen sitting next to the Chief Minister. However, he had skipped Tuesday's meeting following the tussle with the Chief Minister and instead Panneerselvam had held a meeting with his supporters at his residence in Chennai. By rolling out the meeting with his supporters, Panneerselvam has shown that he is building up his supporter base as part of the effort of winning the race for Chief Ministerial candidate. 

According to the reports, Panneerselvam had met senior ADMK leaders KP Munusamy, Vaidhyalingam, Manoj Pandian, and some of the members in his faction. Former Tamil Nadu Minister for Information and Technology Manikandan had also attended the meeting with Panneerselvam. Manikandan was removed from the cabinet by the Chief Minister in 2019 for making controversial remarks against him. 

Manikandan had dissented against the Chief Minister and he participated in Tuesday's meeting convened by Panneerselvam at his residence. According to reports, Panneerselvam had convened a sudden meeting with the view of gathering the support from his faction in his race to become the next Chief Minister. The meeting chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister has been in the spotlight as the race for the top post gets intensified in the party with EPS looking to sail the ship for the next five years whereas OPS has been mulling to take over the baton. 

While addressing the reporters, Vaidyalingam, who attended the meeting with Panneerselvam, had however maintained that there is no tussle between the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister and said that ADMK will win in the upcoming polls and retain the power in the state. When asked about the meeting, Vaidyalingam said that the meeting was convened to discuss about the development of the party. 

Must-read: EPS vs OPS: Battle for CM grows stronger! Who is going to win the race? Party to reveal on Oct 7!