Reports from the national capital point out that the ruling BJP at the Centre is in ‘no mood’ to let the EPS-OPS regime continue in the seat of power in Tamil Nadu.

Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao, who was holding additional charge as Tamil Nadu Governor for more than a year during the volatile phase in the aftermath of the demise under mysterious circumstances of former chief-minister J. Jayalalithaa and the subsequent split in the AIADMK, kept quiet even after 21 MLAs supporting jailbird Dinakaran informed him of their decision to withdraw support to the EPS-OPS regime.

Even as the case in this regard is pending with Courts, New Delhi reportedly asked Banwarilal Purohit, who succeeded Rao as a full-time Governor, to maintain status quo. However, it appears that there is a sudden change in the line of thinking in the BJP, which faces Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in the next two months, which has realized that the going may not favour its interests in the State.

As such, Purohit is said to have been given a ‘free-hand’ to decide about the State’s political future as per the verdict of the Courts. Given an option, the Centre is willing to hold interim Assembly polls in the State rather than holding the R.K. Nagar by-poll to fill the vacancy created by Jayalalithaa’s demise. Panic is said to have gripped the powers-that-be in Fort St. George, Chennai due to New Delhi’s sudden volte face.