E-Paper
Experts say AIADMK power tussle has put party on edge, leaders lack Jayalalithaa’s stature
In this heady mix is the constant threat of Sasikala who says she is the real AIADMK general secretary and that she will bring everyone together. Her nephew and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam founder Dhinkaran is in agreement that all factions must join hands but he believes EPS is a betrayer.
Chennai: Amid the legal battle over the leadership of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), there are four factions fighting to make the party strong but political experts say the party is at its weakest now in its 50 years of existence. Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS), O Panneerselvam (OPS), V K Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran each say they want to make the party stronger but with the exception of EPS, the other three want all the factions to unite.
After the death in 1987 of AIADMK’s founder M G Ramachandran (MGR), a similar succession battle unfolded in the party between his widow R Janaki and J Jayalalithaa. They broke into factions, paving the way for the DMK to sweep the 1989 elections, and M Karunanidhi came to power after a decade.
Despite AIADMK’s loss, the elections propelled Jayalalithaa who won 27 seats with the support of the cadre to become one of the stalwarts of Dravidian politics and brought down the curtains on Janaki who won just one seat despite having the leadership’s support to take forward MGR’s legacy.
“I see the leadership is with EPS and the cadre are with OPS,” said a veteran AIADMK leader. “But let’s be clear, neither of them is MGR or Jayalalithaa.”
This is the same factor which political analysts say makes a difference between how Jayalalithaa consolidated the party after a feud and how none of the present four have the qualities, such as leadership and charisma, to do the same.
For now EPS is at the top, but it is only the beginning of the legal battles with OPS, Sasikala and the election commission in which the party posts and symbols, among others, are in contention. The Madras high court last week ordered status quo as of June 23 in the AIADMK’s dual leadership, nullifying the July 11 general council meeting in which EPS was elected interim general secretary and OPS and his supporters were expelled from primary membership. EPS has challenged this in the Madras HC, stating that he cannot jointly work with OPS and that a majority of the party are for a single leadership and want the posts of coordinator (OPS) and joint coordinator (EPS) be abolished. Meanwhile, OPS has challenged in the Supreme Court another Madras HC order which handed over the possession of the AIADMK headquarters to EPS.
In this heady mix is the constant threat of Sasikala who says that she is the real AIADMK general secretary and that she will bring everyone together. Her nephew and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam founder Dhinkaran is in agreement that all factions must join hands but he believes EPS is a betrayer.
Sasikala has pointed out AIADMK’s poll performance to support her case. After Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016 and after Sasikala was jailed for four years in February 2017, EPS and OPS merged their factions to lead the party jointly. And they have lost every election since then – 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 2021 May assembly elections, local and urban body polls conducted from last year through February this year. “We have to all come together for the 2024 elections. We have to bring back the rule of Amma and Thalaivar (Jayalalithaa and MGR) and defeat the DMK,” Sasikala has said several times in the past months during her political tours.
The disarray in Tamil Nadu’s principal opposition is also giving the BJP a space and a voice to grow as an opposition to the DMK. “We have categorically decided that we will not interfere in AIADMK’s internal matters. Our alliance relationship is good but what is wrong with us working towards strengthening our party?” asked a BJP leader not wishing to be named. “Naturally our aim is to come to power in Tamil Nadu one day. For now, we will focus on exposing the DMK’s failures.”
Political commentator Ramu Manivannan says that the AIADMK is presently in a stalemate: “The polarisation within the AIADMK has pushed it to its edge and the BJP would like to preserve this stalemate,” says Manivannan. “EPS is going in one direction and he will not cooperate with OPS while OPS is going in a different direction with a likely cohabitation with Sasikala and TTV. I find this to be a stalemate. Ultimately both EPS and OPS cannot start from scratch and neither has the charisma and courage of Jayalalithaa. Sasikala isn’t even a shadow of Jayalalithaa. None of them have her political personality to lobby within the AIADMK the way she did even when MGR was alive.”
