The race for the Chief Ministerial candidate in the ADMK party is likely nearing its end as the party has, on Monday, officially said that it would be announcing the Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming legislative elections on October 7, and as the party is ten days ahead to unfold the high-level drama, the announcement has stirred the speculations from the supporters of both the factions on who is going to win the race. 

The announcement has come hours after the conclusion of the party's executive committee meeting held at the party headquarters. As the legislative polls near, it has been sparking the political fight between Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and his deputy Panneerselvam on who is going to the next Chief Ministerial candidate of the party in the first legislative elections since the demise of J JayaFirhlalithaa. Though the factions had dissent behind the screen, the fight has been coming to the light when the days for the elections are getting reduced.

As it would be the first state elections for Edappadi Palaniswami as the Chief Minister, he has been strongly vying to retain his power in the party whereas Panneerselvam has also been trying to enhance his stronghold in the party by becoming the Chief Ministerial candidate in the upcoming state elections. The tussle between the leaders to win the race had got intensified in the past few days with the supporters calling and endorsing their respective leaders as the Chief Minister. 

The tussle was also directed by some of the senior ministers who had clashed each other with their different opinions on who will be the face of the party in 2021. With the lesser grounds for the truce and consensus, the ADMK party had convened its executive committee meeting on Monday at the party's headquarters in Chennai and the meeting was already in the spotlight with expectations on who will win the race. According to reports, the meeting had lasted over five hours during which the party and witnessed bitter scenes over the race amid adopting the resolution. 

The meeting was attended by the party's executive committee members including the state ministers, senior leaders, and MLAs. The respective supporters of EPS and OPS had gathered at the headquarters and when Edappadi Palaniswami arrived, his supporters chanted as the next Chief Minister whereas the supporters of Panneerselvam had done the same when the latter arrived for the meeting.

The party had convened the meeting amid being surfaced with the issues of forming the steering committee, picking up the Chief Ministerial candidate, withholding the party's base during the elections, chalking out the plan to meet the release of jailed leader VK Sasikala, and facing the voters with headed accusations on supporting the farm bills and controversial policies of the center. However, sources said that the meeting witnessed a heated debate on who will be the Chief Minister candidate of the party. 

According to reports, there was a war of words between Edappadi Palanswami and Panneerselvam on the race with the duo clashed each other before the presence of the senior leaders. EPS had said his governance was appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while OPS said that he had agreed to hold the post of Deputy Chief Minister only for the current government, not for the 2021 elections, signaling that the upcoming election would be his turn to lead the party and state. 

However, countering his claims, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami said that his governance was appreciated by the Prime Minister and added that they both had been nominated for the Chief Minister by Jayalalithaa's aide VK Sasikala. As the tussle had grown stronger, the meeting concluded by just adopting resolutions against the Central government and not confirming who would be the Chief Ministerial candidate. 

The meeting had adopted 15 resolutions including demanding the Center to release the GST dues to the state, disperse enough funds to the state in fighting against the pandemic, repeal the NEET exams, and the party had reiterated the two-language policy against the Center's three language systems, and the party had also urged the Central government to include the representatives from South India especially from Tamil Nadu in the culture committee set by the Union Ministry of Culture. 

The meeting had also concluded without considering the demand kept by Panneerselvam in forming the 11-member steering committee, as agreed when the factions merged in 2017. His demand was one of the agendas on the fray of his faction but the Chief Minister was unwilling to meet the demand of Panneerselvam as it could create too many power centers within the party. As the meet concluded with the suspense on the CM race, it has captured the grounds of strong dissents between the top leaders. 

Following the meeting, one of the senior ADMK leaders KP Munusamy had addressed the reporters during which he revealed that the party would be announcing the Chief Ministerial candidate on October 7 and his announcement has become a key development signaling that the race for the CM nearing its end and it has stirred the speculations on who will be the candidate. However, some reports say that it would further spark the outrage within the party as the leaders hadn't attained consensus between each other and the announcement would enhance the drift and dissent in the party, which hopes to retain the power in the state by winning the upcoming polls.