The BJP has been pushing the two AIADMK groups to merge and then get the Sasikala clan out of the party and government.
T E Narasimhan and Gireesh Babu report.
The crisis in Tamil Nadu's ruling party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, has escalated.
Seven months after the death of J Jayalalithaa, its supremo and the state's chief minister, the party has split into at least three factions.
All within a year after it was re-elected to office.
With a Presidential election in the offing and a legislative assembly session, political experts are speculating on what lies ahead.
Without Jayalalithaa's commanding presence, the AIADMK first split in February.
One faction was led by her loyal aide and three-time chief minister, O Panneerselvam, who formally succeeded her as head of the government.
After having resigned, he alleged he had been forced to do so by Jaya's successor as party chief (titled 'general secretary'), head of her household while she was alive, V K Sasikala.
Sasikala and MLAs loyal to her elected E K Palaniswami, a minister in the Jaya cabinet, as CM.
Right after this, Sasikala was convicted in a long-standing case involving charges of graft and accumulation of disproportionate assets -- where Jaya was the prime accused -- and given a prison term.
Before going into prison, she appointed T T V Dinakaran, her nephew, deputy general secretary of the party.
It was expected that Dinakaran would be Sasikala's eyes and ears for the duration she was in prison and Palaniswami would take directions from him.
Dinakaran was, shortly after, booked and arrested on charges of trying to bribe an Election Commission of India official to get a favourable order on allotment of the official party symbol to his group.
Senior ministers joined Palaniswami in announcing they were distancing Dinakaran and the Sasikala family from the party and government.
However, Dinakaran got bail and came out of jail on June 1.
32 MLAs visited him, making the contours of another split clear.
This has created a new crisis for the Palaniswami government.
Some senior ministers still say the Sasikala family and Dinakaran will be allowed no role in party or government.
'Our stand continues to be the same, as in April,' said Finance Minister D Jayakumar after internal discussions on June 5.
Responding to this, Dinakaran said: 'No one has the power to expel me or Sasikala from the AIADMK.'
Speaking to reporters after meeting his aunt for nearly 90 minutes, he asked how Jayakumar had the authority to issue such a statement.
Choosing his words, Dinakaran said he had kept away from the party for six weeks, expecting that his absence would help the Panneerselvam and Palaniswami factions to unite.
But, he said, they were not even ready to talk to each other.
Palaniswami, still the CM, has the deemed support of 90 MLAs.
Panneerselvam has 12 and, as mentioned earlier, another 32 have met Dinakaran.
This is in a 234-member legislative assembly where the Opposition parties number 97.
M K Stalin, the working president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, has said they are ready to do their duty in the assembly.
The Panneerselvam faction's relevance is now in question. His 12 MLAs had joined him in February and he has been unable to attract any more, despite the ongoing tussle between the others.
'Only the general secretary of the party can take action against me. I am very much in charge of party affairs,' says Dinakaran.
Sasikala, he says, had asked him to wait for 60 days.
If the party is not united even after that, 'We know what to do.'
The 60 days end on August 5.
With almost four years left in the current assembly's life, none of the factions wants its dissolution, which is likely to follow if the government fell.
Panneerselvam declared his faction would do nothing to displace Palaniswami.
The Dinakaran faction is also expected to go slow on this front.
What the Bharatiya Janata Party and its government at the Centre would do is being discussed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi separately met Panneerselvam and Palaniswami more than once.
Both factions have separately invited the PM to participate in the birth centenary events of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa's mentor.
Both sides have planned separate events in December. Unwittingly or otherwise, they are now engaged in a competition to woo the BJP.
Panneerselvam issued a tweet on a possible alliance with the BJP for the coming civic polls.
'We will take a decision once local body elections are announced,' was the statement from his Twitter handle.
This was later removed, the faction saying it would decide on a tie-up with 'any party' only after the local body poll dates were declared.
Dairy Development Minister K T Rajendra Balaji says the BJP is the option of the future.
"What is wrong with supporting the BJP? You cannot keep saying they are not bothered about other castes or communities. They were the one who made a Muslim, Dr Abdul Kalam, the President of India," he added.
The AIADMK's unified support to the BJP is considered crucial to ensure a victory for the latter's nominee in the Presidential polls, scheduled on July 17.
The AIADMK has a 5.36 per cent vote share in the electoral college. And both the EPS and OPS camps seem firmly with the BJP on this.
According to sources, the BJP has been pushing the two groups to merge and then get the Sasikala clan out of the party and government.
IMAGE: From left, V K Sasikala, O Panneerselvam, E K Palaniswami. Photograph: PTI Photo
