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Decision soon on AIADMK cadre’s calls for single leadership, says D Jayakumar
“In today’s meeting, we discussed single leadership. It was a healthy discussion. And most of the office bearers and district secretaries expressed that the AIADMK requires a single leadership. They felt it was necessary,” Jayakumar told reporters after a four-hour meeting held with office bearers in Chennai.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) district secretaries and office-bearers asked the party to go back to single leadership in place of the duo of Edappadi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam, spokesperson D Jayakumar said on Tuesday.
“In today’s meeting, we discussed single leadership. It was a healthy discussion. And most of the office bearers and district secretaries expressed that the AIADMK requires a single leadership. They felt it was necessary,” Jayakumar told reporters after a four-hour meeting held with office bearers in Chennai.
The meeting happened ahead of the party’s general body meeting, to be held on June 23, and in the backdrop of war words between the AIADMK and their ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“No names were discussed yet. The party will decide on that,” said Jayakumar, when asked who would lead the party when the single leadership set takes place.
A senior AIADMK leader told HT that the topic of single leadership was not part of the agenda and it had taken them all by surprise.
“One by one each of them starting saying they support a single leadership. They feel that the dual leadership is causing confusion not just within the party but the public perception is also not in favour of such a system,” the leader said.
“I have personally told both EPS and OPS even when we ruling that one leader should take care of the government while another leader should take care of the party. Now that we are in the opposition we want one leader for the party. 99% of those who attended today’s meeting are for this.”
AIADMK has had a series of electoral losses following Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016. The differences between Palaniswami and Panneerselvam have caused a stalemate several times within the AIADMK. The most recent was the selection of the Leader of Opposition in May 2021, which eventually went to Palaniswami.
In the past few years, Palaniswami has solidified his position as the numero uno of the party since his time as the chief minister from 2016 to March 2021, sidelining Panneerselvam. On the other hand, Panneerselvam has often used V K Sasikala as a trump card showing that he supports her re-entry before the duo would strike peace again.
There have been hushed voices in the AIADMK that the party founded by M G Ramachandran and succeeded by Jayalalithaa worked well under a single leader. But choosing between Panneerselvam and Palaniswami could have led to a split in the party, senior leaders said.
Panneerselvam and Palaniswami and their respective supporters have had a tense relationship, often cold where they have gone for long periods without speaking to each other. But all decisions are signed off by the duo, and they put up a united face under the threat of Sasikala attempting to reclaim her position in the party.
They had even solidified the dual leadership in a bid to close the doors on Sasikala, by making a vital change to the bylaws in the party constitution last year where the coordinator and joint coordinator will be internally elected by a ‘single voting system’ directly by the primary members associated with the party for five continuous years.
Previously, too, the duo made changes in the party’s operative system in 2017 when they abated the general secretary post occupied by MGR and Jayalalithaa and briefly by Sasikala (which is how she continues to identify herself) and introduced new posts of coordinator and joint coordinator. AIADMK has also filed several police complaints against Sasikala for using the party flag and general secretary designation and has expelled anyone, including Panneerselvam’s brother O Raja, who had been in contact with her.
Tuesday’s development also raises the question if this paves the way for the entry of expelled interim general secretary Sasikala, who only recently said that the AIADMK would go back to a single leadership set-up. After Jayalalithaa’s death, Sasikala, who operated from behind the scenes for decades, emerged into the spotlight to briefly hold the reins of the party.
Since then dramatic scenes unfolded in the AIADMK, with Panneerselvam rebelling against her and her supporters, which included Palaniswami.
Before Sasikala could become CM, she was sent to Bengaluru prison under the disproportionate assets case, and she handpicked Palaniswami to take over as CM. Palaniswami and Panneerselvam buried the hatchet and joined hands to expel Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran. The latter, who leads the breakaway faction Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) has formed the party for the sole reason of taking over the AIADMK.
But the AIADMK still dismisses the Sasikala factor. “Why should we discuss that? Where is the need? Who is she? Why should we waste our time discussing someone who has no links to the party?” Jayakumar said.
