With media reports suggesting a possible reshuffle of the Union Cabinet, senior All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and Deputy Lok Sabha Speaker M Thambidurai met Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah in New Delhi on Thursday evening.
While AIADMK officials were tight-lipped about the possibility of the party joining the National Democratic Alliance and the Union Council of Ministers, the meeting was keenly watched in Tamil Nadu given the bonhomie the two parties have displayed ever since the demise of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in December.
Meanwhile, state Education Minister KA Sengotaiyyan separately met Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday morning. Though AIADMK officials maintained that the meeting was purely formal to take up issues concerning Tamil Nadu, the fact that Sitharaman is in no way connected to the education portfolio raised questions about the agenda of the meeting.
A senior AIADMK official in Chennai said “current AIADMK scenario” was indeed discussed in both the meetings. A leader added that Thambidurai may have, on behalf of the chief minister, discussed probable names for the post of Tamil Nadu governor. Rao, who is the governor of Maharashtra, is currently holding additional charge of Tamil Nadu.
Last week, 19 legislators supporting TTV Dinakaran, the nephew of VK Sasikala, withdrew support to Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami. Since then, the Opposition has been seeking a trust vote in the Assembly, a demand which Governor C Vidyasagar Rao has not heeded.
On Thursday, leaders of Opposition parties, including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and Communist Party of India leader D Raja met President Ram Nath Kovind and submitted a petition seeking a confidence vote.
Sengottaiyan’s sudden meeting with a Union minister also fuelled rumours in Chennai that there might be a major shift in the state Cabinet in Tamil Nadu as Dinakaran has said that he was open to anyone but Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam for the post of chief minister.
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