Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK convened on Monday to take a decision on the ouster of party chief VK Sasikala, whose nephew TTV Dinakaran is leading a rebellion that could potentially unseat the state government.

All MPs, MLAs and office bearers of the AIADMK huddled at the party headquarters in Chennai for the meeting, led by chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami, days after two factions merged.

But the rebel MLAs threatened violence if Sasikala ousted. Dinakaran supporter Thanga Tamilselvan said that “there will be violence in the party office if such a resolution passed”. This group of rebel MLAs has also given the governor a two-day deadline to take a decision on their demand of a trust vote as they had withdrawn support to chief minister Edapaddi Palanisami.

Sleeper cells in AIADMK

Dinakaran maintained that the “sleeper cells in AIADMK’ will get more active at an appropriate time. His MLAs continued to stay in Puducherry and will remain there for another week.

Dinakaran claims the support of 21 MLAs, which means that the government of Palaniswami will be in a minority in the 234-member assembly. The opposition DMK has urged the governor C Vidyasagar Rao to call for a floor test. A no-confidence motion against the chief minister can be called only by October, as per rules.