The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), one half of the traditional Dravidian duopoly in Tamil Nadu politics, is currently facing one of its worst crises. After a series of electoral defeats — including in the recent assembly elections, where it came third — the party has split in all but name, with one faction led by Mailam MLA CV Shanmugam and the other by party general secretary and former chief minister (CM) Edappadi K Palaniswami (popular as EPS).
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), one half of the traditional Dravidian duopoly in Tamil Nadu politics, is currently facing one of its worst crises. After a series of electoral defeats — including in the recent assembly elections, where it came third — the party has split in all but name, with one faction led by Mailam MLA CV Shanmugam and the other by party general secretary and former chief minister (CM) Edappadi K Palaniswami (popular as EPS).
The crisis likely has more to do with a very specific vacuum of leadership than the party’s performance in the polls. For a long period in its history, the AIADMK was led by founder MG Ramachandran (popular as MGR) and J Jayalalithaa, who succeeded him as the party supremo after a brief power struggle following his death in 1987. Both leaders possessed unmatched charisma and carefully fostered deep cadre and voter loyalty. Ever since Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, the party’s leadership hasn’t been able to recreate a similar image among the cadre and its larger political base. Riven by factionalism, the party split into three after Jayalalithaa’s death, before two factions merged and sidelined the third. While EPS managed to hold the AIADMK together in the interim, the current rebellion underscores his eroded heft and hold over the party.
The AIADMK’s shrinking, if it isn’t contained and reversed urgently, will open doors for other claimants of the political space in Tamil Nadu. This could benefit not only the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which ended the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-AIADMK duopoly, but also national parties vying for the electorate’s preference. The AIADMK’s record on governance saw it win successive elections in the state twice since its formation in 1972, while rival DMK has never been able to beat anti-incumbency in this period. A split that diminishes the AIADMK further will leave Tamil Nadu politics the lesser for it.
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