Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi amid reports of a possible merger of the rival factions of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, IANS reported. On the same day, the O Panneerselvam camp approached the Election Commission, and submitted an application seeking to nullify the appointment of TTV Dinakaran and VK Sasikala from the party.
Palaniswami was in Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. He stressed that the topic of merger of the two warring factions of the party was not discussed with the prime minister. Palaniswami, however, said that he had sought the Centre’s approval to grant exemption for Tamil Nadu students in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test.
The meeting between the chief minister and Modi comes ahead of Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah’s visit to Tamil Nadu. According to the BJP, the merger between the two factions will be finalised before Shah’s arrival, The Indian Express reported. Shah will be in the state on August 22.
While Palaniswami returned to Chennai on Friday night, Panneerselvam is believed to have stayed back in Delhi and may meet Modi over the weekend, The Hindu reported. The development came a day after the Palaniswami faction had formally rejected Dinakaran as their deputy general secretary, saying that his appointment to the post had gone against the party guidelines.
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