Chennai, Jan. 21: The bulls will charge on Sunday and the Tamil Nadu chief minister will be in attendance, savouring the first big success of his month-and-a-half-old tenure.

The decks were cleared for jallikattu tomorrow with acting governor Vidyasagar Rao promulgating the state ordinance needed to get around the 2014 Supreme Court ban on the bull-taming sport.

Chief minister O. Panneerselvam said he would be inaugurating the state's biggest jallikattu event at Alanganallur near Madurai tomorrow morning.

His four-page media statement added that other ministers would flag off the sport at the other traditional centres.

To answer critics who are saying this is only a temporary fix, Panneerselvam said the ordinance would be replaced with a bill when the Assembly reopens on Monday.

The protesters at Marina Beach stayed put, though, many of them vowing to continue. "This is a temporary reprieve. We have to see how the state and central governments make it permanent and immune to future legal challenges," said Balakumar Somu, a protest leader.

But with fatigue setting in among the participants as well as the public, the agitation may dissipate once the TV screens begin showing live jallikattu performances on Sunday. "Ultimately, everyone wants a spectacle and that would be provided on Sunday," a police officer said.

Panneerselvam's statement thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for getting the draft ordinance approved by three Union ministries and the President in a single day.

He later rang Modi and was quoted as saying: "I thank you for all your support and assistance in getting the ordinance on jallikattu approved."

Party MP and Lok Sabha deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai, however, seemed to criticise Modi, saying: "It's unfortunate that the MPs of the AIADMK couldn't get an audience with the Prime Minister despite repeated efforts."

The contrasting stands reflected fault lines in the party, where Delhi favourite Panneerselvam is pitted against Thambidurai's group, which is loyal to party chief Sasikala.

Thambidurai today repeatedly mentioned "Chinnamma" while Panneerselvam's statement attributed the mission's success to Jayalalithaa, "who steadfastly defended Tamil Nadu's rights".

Political observers believe that Panneerselvam's intra-party opponents, particularly Sasikala's husband Natarajan, have been trying to undermine him and that the protests were a part of this. Senior police officers suspect Natarajan's hand behind the pro-Tamil groups that organised the agitation.

"There are attempts to get the villagers of Alanganallur to resist fielding their bulls for Sunday's event. Student leaders spearheading the protests have been asked to stay put at their venues even on Sunday," an officer said.

Better sense seemed to prevail later in the evening, though, and Sasikala urged the protestors to end their agitation.

Edging into the scene and claiming part of the credit for the solution, she said: "People's power has prevailed and that too peacefully and we have succeed in protecting our Tamil culture."

She too thanked Modi and the Centre for their support and said the chief minister and the party MPs had acted at her behest and advice.