Fifty years after coming into existence, the party founded by MGR and deftly helmed by Jayalalithaa for years stands at a nervous crossroads

In one of his works, Victor Hugo said 40 is the old age of youth while 50 is the youth of old age. Had he been alive today, Hugo would have been perplexed with the goings-on in the AIADMK, founded in 1972 by late MG Ramachandran (he rose to power in 1977 and remained the Chief Minister till his death in 1987) and strengthened by J Jayalalithaa. The party leadership, cadre and activists are likely suffering from dementia. The AIADMK is facing an unprecedented leadership crisis since Jayalalithaa passed away in 2016. After MGR’s demise, a churning process saw Jayalalithaa, a heartthrob of South Indian movie fans, emerging as the AIADMK’s undisputed leader and staying numero uno till she breathed her last on December 5, 2016.

Initially, Jayalalithaa was guided by MGR though she proved her mettle fast. Around this time, VK Sasikala, the wife of an assistant PRO of the Tamil Nadu Government, entered her life. Since then, there was no looking back for Sasikala, a matriculate, who became Jaya’s live-in partner in Veda Nilayam, Amma’s sprawling bungalow in Chennai’s Poes Garden. Though Jayalalithaa suffered a humiliating defeat in the 1996 Assembly election, she staged a miraculous comeback in the 2001 and 2011 elections that saw the uprooting of the DMK. The 2014 Lok Sabha election was the icing on the cake as the AIADMK won 37 of the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. Jaya also led her party to victory in the 2016 Assembly election but she had lost health and energy by then. With her demise, the AIADMK’s golden era came to an end.

O Panneerselvam, who was sworn in the Chief Minister in the wee hours of December 6, was dethroned by a coterie led by Sasikala and her nephews who had usurped control of Veda Nilayam during the intervening night of December 5 and 6, 2016. Sasikala and her entire family had been thrown out of Veda Nilayam in October 2011 by Jayalalithaa, who told the party cadres not to have any contact with the clan. But Sasikala was readmitted to Poes Garden in April 2012 after declaring that she was interested only in serving her Akka (Jaya) and would not enter politics. Her nephew TTV Dhinakaran, who too had been ousted from Veda Nilayam in 2011, managed to “infiltrate” the bungalow after Jaya’s demise. Sasikala appointed him the deputy general secretary, a post hitherto unheard of in the party.

By December 2016, Sasikala was elevated as the AIADMK’s acting general secretary. The then Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambi Durai openly lobbied for Sasikala’s elevation as general secretary. Within weeks of her taking over as party supremo, Durai demanded her appointment as the Chief Minister. After that, things moved very fast. By the first week of February 2017, a special session of the AIADMK legislature party unanimously elected Sasikala as the CM. The swearing-in ceremony was scheduled for February 15 when lightning struck in the form of a Supreme Court order upholding the Karnataka Special Court’s verdict convicting Sasikala, her nephew Sudhakaran and cousin Ilavarasi to four years’ rigorous imprisonment in a disproportionate income case. The day she was to swear in as CM, Chinnamma was on her way to Parappana Agrahara Central Jail after entrusting Edappadi Palaniswami with the Chief Minister’s job.

Palaniswami started off in style but Dhinakaran began calling the shots. His mission was to get elected from (Jaya’s) RK Nagar constituency, pull down Palaniswami and become the CM. With Sasikala in jail, Palaniswami made use of his contacts in BJP to tame Panneerselvam, who reluctantly accepted the deputy chief ministership. A general council meeting in September 2017 eased out Sasikala and Dhinakaran from the party. Dhinakaran launched an outfit, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhakam, and is still struggling to get a foothold in State politics. In 2021, the AIADMK was defeated by the DMK-led alliance but the victory margin was not really impressive.

Panneerselvam is annoyed with Palaniswami for not making him Leader of the Opposition. Chief Minister Stalin is doing all he can to hasten the disintegration. Palaniswami’s trusted colleagues (all belonging to Gounder community) are being raided by the authorities. Panneerselvam and Sasikala, both hailing from the powerful Thevar community, are cosying up in spite of the former having declared a Dharma Yudh against her in February 2017. The question is whether Sasikala has the guts to become the leader of a party which owes its existence to MGR and Jayalalithaa? Apart from her not-so-noble backroom manoeuvrings, Sasikala is yet to establish her credentials as a leader. The DMK would love to see the disintegration of the AIADMK: If it splits vertically, Stalin would be the sole beneficiary.

Panneerselvam was twice selected as the CM by Jaya because of his servility. Even his close associates say OPS has no leadership qualities unlike Palaniswami who gave the DMK a mighty scare. The golden jubilee year is turning out to be a critical phase for the AIADMK. Sasikala, Panneerselvam and Dhinakaran do not fit the bill though there is a glimmer of hope in EPS. May lord Muruga save the AIADMK!

(The writer is a senior journalist with The Pioneer. The views expressed are personal.)