The stalemate continues within the ruling AIADMK, as the two warring factions led by current chief minister O.Panneerselvam and adhoc General Secretary VK Sasikala are at loggerheads for inheriting the legacy of late leader Jayalalithaa and power. After about a week long camp at his official residence in Chennai, meeting his supporters, Panneerselvam today visited the Secretariat at St George Fort and carried on his official business.

Meanwhile, Sasikala turned offensive and reiterated her call for Governor to invite her to form the government, saying she enjoys the required number of legislators to prove majority on the floor of the House. The party spokesperson Vaigai Selvan blamed the BJP and the DMK of exerting pressure on Raj Bhavan and added Sasikala loyalists are expecting that they would get the invitation by today.

In New Delhi, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court, seeking direction to Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to invite AIADMK chief Sasikala Natarajan to form the government within 24 hours. The AIADMK’s official Twitter handle said that the PIL was filed by one AL Sharma.

For the third day in a row Sasikala will hold ‘key discussions’ with party MLAs put up at a resort amid intense battle for power. She today revealed that a conspiracy being hatched to divide the party after the death of former chief minister Jayalalithaain December. Accusing Pannerselvam was also a conspirator, she asserted that “we have seen 1,000 such ‘Panneerselvams’. For the past 33 years, we both (Sasikala and Jayalalithaa) have seen everything. So I am not scared.”

Meanwhile, the state police has submitted its report to the Madras High Court if the ruling party MLAs are being held captive there, the details of which are not disclosed. The state BJP keeps maintaining that it has no role in the ongoing political turmoil in the state triggered by inner party rivalries.