The candidature of Ramnath Kovind got further boost for the Presidential election, as the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Paneerselvam led faction of AIADMK also decided to support the NDA candidate. Speaking to newspersons at Chennai today, Paneerselvam said that heeding to the BJP President Amit Shah’s request, the faction has decided to support Mr. Kovind.
The AIADMK faction led by present Chief Minister E. Palaniswami, has already announced its support for Mr. Kovind. The decision came yesterday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Mr. Palaniswami over phone and sought his party’s support for the NDA nominee. The Puratchi Thalaivi Amma faction, the AIADMK Amma faction headed by Edappadi Palanisamy and the other one headed by TTV Dinakaran.
The Amma faction split into two after the cancellation of the by- election at RK.Nagar. One of the factions is headed by Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy and the other by Dinakaran who contested the election under AIADMK Amma. The MLAs who swear allegiance to Dinakaran are 34 in numbers and two MPs . This faction has not divulged details on the support. Dinakaran who is out on bail in the bribery case and who is the deputy general secretary of the AIADMK had met Sasikala who is in Bengaluru Prison with regard to the support of the Presidential candidate.He is meeting MLAs at his residence in Chennai presently and not at the AIADMK headquarters.