AIADMK (Amma) leader and Finance Minister D. Jayakumar on Sunday accused leaders of the rival AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) of expressing contradictory opinions on the proposed merger of the two factions. Nonetheless, he invited the rival faction for talks and hoped to settle all issues.
Talking to reporters here, Mr. Jayakumar alleged that the opinions expressed by former Ministers S. Semmalai, K. Pandiarajan and C. Ponnaiyan and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam were contradictory.
“Our brother and former Minister Semmalai convened a meeting in his district (Salem) and has expressed his opinion (against the merger). Then came an opinion from Mr. Pandiarajan. Then former Minister Ponnaiyan is giving an opinion. And then, OPS is giving an opinion. He says the atmosphere is conducive for talks. There are contradictions in their stands,” he charged. “But as far as we [AIADMK Amma] are concerned, there are no contradictions. ‘You come and we shall talk’ is our stand. We will sort it out and settle the matter,” he added.
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It has been almost two weeks since senior leaders of AIADMK (Amma) announced that the party and the government would stay clear of the influence of deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran and his family. The committees constituted by both factions for talks have yet to meet formally, as the OPS faction has set preconditions for the talks.