All district committees of the AIADMK are busy adopting resolutions supporting Palaniswamy and asserting that those who interact with V K Sasikala, who has come out of jail serving a four-year imprisonment, faces the wrath of the cadre and leadership. Whoever interacted with Sasikala has been expelled from the party.
Sasikala was released from the jail in the month of February 2021 after serving her term in the disproportionate wealth case. At the time of surrendering in front of the special court judge in Bangalore to serve her jail term, she was the general secretary of the party. Since then, she and her close associates were eased out of the party and a steering committee of senior leaders took over the reins.
Immediately after her release from jail, Sasikala had made it known that she would return to active politics and take the AIADMK back to its golden days. But within day she made a vault face and declared her retirement from active politics.
After the swearing in of the DMK Government , audio clips featuring Sasikala’s telephonic conversation with some of the party cadres about her decision to come back to active politics began taking rounds in the State.
While the DMK, the winner in the 2021 Assembly election polled 2.1 crore popular votes ( 45.39 per cent), the AIADMK finished a close second with 1.83 crore votes (39.72 per cent). The DMK won 133 out of the 188 seats it contested and the AIADMK emerged victorious in 66 out of the 191 seats where the party fielded its candidates.
Meanwhile the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhakam, launched by Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran remained a non-starter in the State’s politics. The AMMK front could poll just 2.5 per cent votes in the 2021 election. “It was a credible performance by the AIADMK despite the anti-incumbency factor of ten years and the absence of a charismatic leader like Jayalalithaa. The credit goes to Palaniswamy,” said Kolahala Srenivasan, political commentator. ‘With the AIADMK suffering a defeat in the election and the side-lining of Panneerselvam in the party, Sasikala thinks that she would be able to exploit the situation to her advantage. Palaniswamy has made it clear before and after the assembly election that Sasikala and her coterie do not have any space in the AIADMK.
“Panneerselvam is finished politically. He was more interested in getting his son elected in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and getting himself elected in the 2021 assembly election. He has not campaigned for the party on both the occasions while Palaniswamy led the fight from the front,” said Srenicasan.
Source close to Palaniswamy told The Pioneer that those who had joined Panneerselvam immediately after his removal as chief minister in February 2017 were sad that they chose the wrong camp. “Many including former MPs and MLAs have expressed their grief to Palaniswamy. Panneerselvam has become isolated in the party and he has no where to go,” said the source.
Govindaswamy Satyamurty, author and a specialist in AIADMK politics, chose to differ. “In Tamil Nadu it is castes which drive politics. The Thevar caste is a dominant factor in politics. Sasikala and Panneerselvam belong to the Thevar caste while Palaniswamy has the support of the Gaunders, the influential group in south west Tamil Nadu. We have to wait and see whether the Giundars have the numerical and financial clout to prevent Sasikala from hijacking the AIADMK,” said Satyamurty.
While Kolahala Srenivasan was emphatic in his stance that Sasikala would not create any impact in AIADMK, Satyamurti says that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.