Tamil Nadu’s caretaker chief minister O Panneerselvam on Thursday got support from senior All Indian Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party leader E Madhusudhanan. The Rajya Sabha MP said, “O Panneerselvam is the real heir of Amma.” The support is significant because Madhusudhanan is the Presidium Chairman of the party, one of the top most posts in the AIADMK.

Panneerselvam welcomed the senior leader’s support and said, “Our senior leader Madhusudhanan was threatened and pressurised, even after that he stood alone to safeguard party.” He also accused party general secretary VK Sasikala of “doing dirty tricks to acquire the chair of CM”. “If she succeeds it will be a big blot on democracy,” he said.

Adding to the current turmoil, Panneerselvam read out excerpts from a letter Sasikala had written for former AIADMK general secretary and chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The letter was written to apologise for the wrongdoings of her relatives after they were asked to leave the deceased chief minister’s Poes Garden residence. “VK Sasikala is lying when she says she never betrayed Amma,” Panneerselvam said as he read out the letter.

He was referring to the 2011 incident where Sasikala, her husband M Natarajan and her relatives was expelled from the party by Jayalalithaa for reportedly interfering in administrative and political decisions.

On Wednesday, senior AIADMK leader V Maitreyan also supported Panneerselvam’s claim to the CM’s post. So far, he has the support of six MLAs – SP Shanmuganathan, Manickam K, R Manoharan, Manoranjitham, VC Arukutty and R Nataraj – besides his own vote. He said his camp is prepared to respond to any allegations levelled by Sasikala and her supporters.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao boarded a flight to return to Chennai from Mumbai. Reports had suggested that the governor had no plans to return to the state till the internal crisis in the ruling party was resolved. Panneerselvam will be meeting Rao at 5 pm, while Sasikala has been asked to meet him alone at 7.30 pm.

Though Sasikala enjoys the support of a majority of the party MLAs, Panneerselvam has claimed that several legislators are on his side and that he can prove his strength in the state Assembly. He had also said that he would withdraw his resignation if he had the support of the party cadres. His resignation was accepted by Rao on Monday.

The divide in the party was made evident after Panneerselvam on Tuesday night spoke to the media and said he had been forced to resign as chief minister, and that he had continuously been insulted while he ran the state after Jayalalithaa’s death.

Several other leaders, both national and regional, have questioned Sasikala’s meteoric rise to the top of the AIADMK. Jayalalithaa had died after a long illness on December 5. There was very little information given about her health while she was unwell, leading to several conspiracy theories about her death.