Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has taken a firm step towards drawing the breakaway faction of the AIADMK back into the fold by announcing the setting up of an inquiry commission to look into the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

This has been a key demand of the rebel faction led by O Panneerselvam, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, apart from demanding the expulsion of AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran, whom she inducted into the party and made Deputy General Secretary.

But Dhinakaran is unlikely to step aside. He is on a campaign to demonstrate his strength within the party and has the support of at least 20 MLAs.

Dhinakaran has categorically ruled out staying on the sidelines much less exiting the party, highlighting the three-way rift within the State’s ruling party.

A merger of the OPS and EPS factions seems on the cards with senior leaders in the OPS faction, including Ma Foi K Pandiarajan and KP Munuswamy, welcoming the Chief Minister’s decision to institute an commission of inquiry to look into Jayalalithaa’s death.

The panel will be led by a retired judge. The former chief minister died at the Apollo Hospital on December 5, 2016.

But what is left unsaid is the accommodation of OPS and his supporters in positions of power within the party, if not the government, and how this is to be achieved.

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