What has been seen before the camera wasn't the case behind for the ADMK party as the ruling party of Tamil Nadu has been witnessing a tussle inside the leadership circle which gets intensified as the more the date of the election nears, the intra-party fight gets stronger and the recent fracas has showcased that reaching the consensus between the factions would not be an easier task for the party.

The top two leaders of the party have been getting glued to the race of the next Chief Minister with the tight tug-of-war against each other in taking the reign and to become the face of the party. Finding the space to reiterate their supports, the supporters of both the factions have been calling the respective leaders of their factions as the next Chief Minister. In the absence of the popular face of the party, the intra-politics has been emerging as a tussle against the leaders when its stronghold in the state has already been getting eroded ahead of the assembly polls. 

ADMK has been the party with one popular face for the party and in the power. Since its inception, late Chief Ministers MGR, and Jayalalithaa had been the face of the party till their demise and the current leaders are vying to become a perfect, if not a deserved, successor of Jayalalithaa, and their stints have been unfolding the never-ending political drama in the state with the consistent lack of unanimous approach on issues and concrete decision-making both in the government and the party. 

Despite the repeated vows before the camera that the party is united, the scenes from the behind have been picturing the flawed state of leadership in the party amid being queued up with the accusations and controversies over its governance. As the COVID-19 outbreak had shadowed the intra-party fight, it has now come public that the struggle for power has been never-ending. As the 2021 state assembly poll nears, the ruling party has been vying to form the government for the third consecutive term, but the answer lies on who would be the next Chief Ministerial candidate and how the party is prepared to hit the campaign trail. 

To discuss the matter and the elections in the presence of the senior leaders, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami - ADMK's joint coordinator, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam ADMK's Coordinator had convened the high-level party meeting on Friday. As the duo arrived at the party headquarters in Chennai for the meeting, they were surrounded by their supporters, and when Panneerselvam arrived at the office, his supporters had raised slogans calling him as the future Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and when Edappadi Palaniswami arrived, his supporters had called him as the 'permanent Chief Minister of the state' and they raised slogans against the supporters of Pannerselvam. 

There wouldn't be a better instance than this development that had captured the grounds of intensifying tussle between the leaders of the same party and their supporters. As it had signaled that both the leaders are enjoying equal supporter bases, the emergency meeting had seen the participation of senior leaders, MPs, and MLAs. The meeting had lasted for more than two hours during which the leaders ran through debates, arguments, and discussions over the Chief Ministerial candidate and the meeting concluded with neither attaining a conclusion nor a consensus. 

During the meeting, according to reports, a supporter of Panneerselvam had raised his voice and asked the leaders why the steering committee hasn't been installed yet. The formation of an 11-member steering committee in the party has been one of the demands kept by Panneerselvam to get merged with Palaniswami's faction in 2017. Though the factions merged, the party hadn't shown a signal of forming the committee. It soon had gone into debate following which the senior leaders had tried to appease the situation. 

The prospect of marking the truce was gone on air after there have been debates and dissents within the party. Panneerselvam had pressed his position in the party and called for the need of a steering committee. According to a senior leader, Panneerselvam said in the meeting that he has been pushing for the constitution of the steering committee and he wanted to reiterate the significance of having such a panel of leaders for the party's welfare. 

Amid trying to reduce the tensions among the factions, both the leaders were ended up witnessing the bitter scenes that would create more drift in the party ahead of the assembly polls. The meeting came to an end after the Chief Minister issued a note of caution by citing that the difference of opinion might expand the drift and the leaders asserted that the decision on the Chief Ministerial candidate would be taken in the executive committee meeting that has been scheduled on September 28 and the executive committee meeting would be the prefix for the general council meet. 

The leaders had asserted that the general council meeting would be conducted through video conference and they left out to appeal to the members to remain united for the party's victory in the assembly elections and added that both of the leaders would be visiting the party office for twice a week in a bid to defuse the tensions and grievances from the party members. As the latest developments emerged as a huge challenge for the top leaders amid addressing the issues and accusations levied by the opposition parties. 

With the elections are nearing, the tussle between the leaders under the guise that they wished to be united had captured the unhealthy politics within the party which has seen no dearth of controversies and uproar. The ADMK has been sailing with the hope to retain the power next year with showing no evidence that the leaders would fix the tussle, attain consensus, and stay united as one party ahead of the polls. If the leaders wish to keep the current trend alive, the party would see a decline of hope among the voters, who are already in the mindset of staying off from electing ADMK and BJP alliance in the state. 

As the drama has been never-ending, the solution to breakdown the tussles lies on how the leaders come out of the flawed leadership with the progress of putting the state first before the politics and to hit the campaign trail with the popular face to meet the voters and take on the opposition parties. At the current state, who would be the face and Chief Minister candidate would be the deciding factor of whether the ADMK would be sailing towards the victory.