Amid the hectic and chaotic parleys between the two factions of the Tamil Nadu ruling ADMK party, the senior minister had drawn attention across the state after asserting that incumbent Edappadi Palaniswami will be the Chief Ministerial candidate for the ADMK party for the upcoming assembly polls and the party will be making an official announcement. 

While addressing the reporters, Tamil Nadu Minister for Forests Dindigul Srinivasan said that Edappadi Palaniswami will remain as the Chief Ministerial candidate in the 2021 polls. Srinivasan went on to say that there has been no tussle between Edappadi Palaniswami and Panneerselvam and further added that the party would be naming him as the next Chief Ministerial candidate on October 7. He further asserted that the ADMK party would win and form the government in the upcoming polls.

His statement had shocked the party members and the supporters of Panneerselvam as according to reports, his statement has gone against the party's recent instruction which had warned the senior leaders and members not to divulge any statements concerning the CM race without obtaining the consent from the party's leadership - Edappadi Palaniswami and Panneerselvam. 

Even as the factions are attempting to foil each other with supporting and endorsing their respective leaders, the statement from Dindigul Srinivasan had stirred chaos in the party amid the tensions and furor between the factions in reaching an amicable truce and consensus. The race for the Chief Minister in the ADMK party was behind the cameras while the COVID-19 outbreak was before the eyes of the state. 

However, the intra-party race had emerged as a fierce tussle between two factions when the state has been nearing the elections when the ministers are airing differences of opinions, and when Jayalalithaa's aide VK Sasikala is expected get released from the prison ahead of the assembly polls. The furor turned fight in the race for CM had come to light during the high-level meetings convened by the party earlier this month. 

The tussle between the top two leaders had got intensified when the party convened its executive committee meeting on September 28. It was speculated that the party would be announcing the CM candidate following the meeting. However, the meeting had witnessed heated debates between the top two leaders with both of them had claimed they had a right to contest as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party. Following the debates, the meeting had concluded with neither reaching a conclusion nor a truce on the CM race. 

Following the meeting, senior leader KP Munusamy said that the party would announce the Chief Ministerial candidate on October 7. As the race intensified, Deputy Chief Minister Pannerselvam had skipped the meetings with the Chief Minister for the past two days and the former had held a meeting with his supporters at his residence to strengthen his bid for the Chief Minister post. Though the party leaders maintained that the top two leaders are united, Pannerselvam had held a meeting with his supporters on Wednesday for the second consecutive day.

According to reports, senior leaders like KP Munusamy, Manoj Pandian, and Natham Viswanathan had attended the meeting with the Deputy Chief Minister on Wednesday during which, the reports say, that the leaders discussed about the ongoing tussle, the reaction of the supporters in the party after the executive committee meeting, and enhancing his base in the party towards taking the baton of power. With both sides are engaging in the tug-of-war, the reports stated that the allied parties have been disappointed to witness the tussle, which would weaken the prospects of the party in retaining the power in the state.