EPS to be leader of opposition in TN Assembly

Former Tamil Nadu chief minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Edappadi K

Former Tamil Nadu chief minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami was on Monday unanimously elected leader of the legislative party to become the leader of opposition in the state assembly.

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The decision was taken after a three-hour meeting at the party office in Chennai on Monday. The party had earlier met on Friday but failed to arrive at a consensus. It was important for the AIADMK to elect its legislative party leader on Monday as the newly-elected legislators are expected to take oath on Tuesday.

At the meeting, senior leader K P Munusamy announced Palaniswami as the opposition leader to the newly-elected MLAs. “It is a unanimous decision of the new MLAs and senior leaders without any dissent,” C Ponnaiyan, one of AIADMK’s founding members, said.

The announcement was followed by a statement signed by both Palaniswami and Panneerselvam. With this, political experts believe that Palaniswami has sealed his top position in the AIADMK.

“EPS is now the most powerful man in the AIADMK but to be that, he requires the consent of OPS,” political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy said. “The dual leadership still prevails despite EPS commanding more support. OPS will not give up his signing authority. OPS fully knew that he was on the losing side of the battle, but he still gave a fight to establish that it is a dual leadership party and he also have a right and won’t be a push over.”

The scene outside the party office was, however, different. The deployment of police increased after cadres supporting their respective leaders grew in number amid a statewide lockdown enforced in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At Friday’s meeting, the newly-elected MLAs were seated on the first floor of the party office as several senior leaders, along with Palaniswami and Panneerselvam, discussed matters on the ground floor.

When asked why Friday’s meeting was inconclusive if there was no dissent, Ponnaiyan said, “There was no actual problem, it was created by the media. Besides choosing the opposition leader, we had to discuss our electoral debacle. Our performance in the north and south regions isn’t appreciable.”

In the recently-concluded Tamil Nadu elections, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led alliance had won 159 seats in the 234-member Assembly. The AIADMK won 66 segments and its partners Bharatiya Janata Party and Paattali Makkal Katchi won four and five seats, respectively.

The poll performance gave Palaniswami the upper hand as he and former top ministers hail from the western region where the party performed its best.

Pannerselvam, on the other hand, hails from the south. In Theni district, his native place, the party saw its archrival DMK beating it convincingly

P Ayyapan, a new MLA from south Usilampatti constituency, said the AIADMK agreed to the leadership’s decision. “I’m from his (Panneerselvam) region. He hadn’t come to us for support in this matter. He didn’t say he wanted the post,” he said, adding: “It’s the cadre outside who are shouting slogans and leaving.”

In what appeared to be a show of strength, Pannerselvam attended chief minister M K Stalin’s swearing-in ceremony last Friday before the AIADMK meeting and also ate together with Governor Banwarilal Purohit, former chief secretary Rajeev Ranjan and other senior DMK leaders.

“Whether it is EPS or OPS, it is AIADMK’s internal politics but now that EPS has been elected, we respect the decision and expect that he will play a constructive role as opposition leader as well as in Tamil Nadu politics,” DMK spokesperson J Constantine Ravindran said.

Both Palaniswami and Panneerselvam have been managing party affairs and the government since former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s demise in office in December 2016. The dual leadership arrangement even saw Palaniswami as the chief minister and joint coordinator of the AIADMK while Panneerselvam as deputy chief minister and coordinator of the party.

However, there has been frequent tension between the two over important decisions. Tension was also brewing over who would be the leader of opposition.

“It is only natural and expected that both leaders had their own support base who put forth their points. We have resolved this now,” a former AIADMK minister said, preferring anonymity.

It is for the second time that Panneerselvam has given up on an important post despite putting up a fight initially. In October 2020, after more than a week of MLAs scuttling between the two leaders, Panneerselvam announced the party’s decision to field Palaniswami as the chief ministerial candidate.

The party deftly ousted Jayalalithaa’s close aide V K Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran in 2017. While the duo wanted to reclaim the party, Sasikala in March announced to stay away from politics. Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) did not win any seats during the polls but played spoiler for the AIADMK in 21 seats. For now, the party said, there will be no deflection.

“Sasikala is a spent force. EPS and a majority of the cadre wouldn’t want her back. For any expulsion and inclusion to the party, both EPS and OPS have to sign,” Duraisamy said.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MPs Munusamy and R Vaithilingam tendered their resignations since they won as MLAs from Vepanahalli and Orathanadu constituencies.

During the poll campaign, AIADMK’s RS MP Mohamed John died of a cardiac arrest and with that, three Upper House seats from Tamil Nadu remain vacant.