In an attempt to keep his flock of supporters together, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday met several Ministers and a few party legislators from six districts at his residence on Greenways Road.
Mr. Palaniswami, who has been in touch with legislators ever since the faction headed by him decided to sideline party deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran, has stepped up efforts to win the support of MLAs.
His individual meeting with the legislators comes close on the heels of Mr. Dhinakaran demonstrating that he had “sleeper cells” within the Palaniswami faction, whom he could “activate” at will.
Earlier this week, many legislators had stayed off a meet convened by Mr. Palaniswami, ostensibly to lay the ground for the expulsion of jailed party leader V.K. Sasikala from the AIADMK.
Even on Thursday, though several senior Ministers attended the meeting, very few MLAs turned up for the meeting at his residence, party sources said.
