Hundreds of people wait outside Veda Nilayam, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's house in Poes Garden, just to get a glimpse of AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala as she leaves for the Golden Bay Resort in Koovathur.
Sasikala supporters scream, "Chinamma vazhga" (Long live Chinnamma!) as her car leaves Poes Garden. "She is the political heir of Amma. She has been with Amma for the last 33 years and she knows everything about governance. She will do good for us like Amma," says Bhubaneswari (36), who has come from Tambaram.
There are people who have camped at Poes Garden for days together.
"I have been here for the last five days and I will only leave after Chinamma becomes the Chief Minister," says Praveen (28), a real estate agent who has been in the party since 2001.
After Sasikala leaves, the roads empty out with only a few cadres sitting on the pavements.
A crowd of around 30 people from RK Nagar say that they want Sasikala to take the place of Jayalalithaa.
"We want Chinamma to stand for elections and take the place of Amma in RK Nagar. She will do what Amma did for us," believes Shanthi, who works in a plastic company. She has been coming to Poes Garden for the last three days.
Adaikkalam (61), from Thanjavur, has a broken leg and has been sitting outside Jayalalithaa's house for the last seven days. "I will only go from here after I see Chinamma become the Chief Minister. It is only because of the Centre, the governor is not calling her for the swearing in. The law also supports her, she has the numbers, she must be called for swearing in," he avers.
Shekhar (59), a shopkeeper in a white shirt and veshti, only wants that the party should not split. "In 1989, when the party split also, I was here. That time, I sat for 15 days here. This time, it has just been seven days," he says.
He adds that he has always stood by the party during crisis and will continue to do so.
He feels that Sasikala will be able to unite the party again like Jayalalithaa did. "She is a strong woman like Amma. She has been with her and has taken care of Amma. She will only do good for the people of Tamil Nadu," he says.
However, anger against O Panneerselvam seems to be increasing among the Sasikala supporters. "He was one of the senior leaders in the party and he was supposed to keep them all together instead of splitting the party like this," says Shekhar.
He is a traitor to the party, accuses Selvakumar, who works as a PRO for a Chennai school. "He is doing all this for the greed of power or else why will he do this? Till now, he was supporting Chinamma," he says.
Adaikalam even claims that it was Sasikala who helped Panneerselvam become one of the top leaders in the party.
It has been seven days since the battle between O Panneerselvam and VK Sasikala began. Sasikala's supporters are awaiting the decision of the governor with increasing impatience. While Sasikala claims to have the majority of MLAs on her side, it's the Supreme Court's verdict scheduled for Tuesday that will prove to be the game-changer.
