The AIADMK today resembles a rudderless ship without an able captain to take on the DMK’s Stalin
The AIADMK, which was in power in Tamil Nadu for two successive terms from 2011 to 2021, is at a crossroads after the last Assembly election. The party, founded by late MG Ramachandran and nurtured by late J Jayalalithaa, resembles a rudderless ship after the demise of the latter in December 2016. The party now has no charismatic leader with the stature of Amma, as Jayalalithaa was addressed by people. The turmoil in the AIADMK was revealed when the party leadership fielded two sitting Rajya Sabha members as candidates for the 2021 Assembly election. Though both the MPs won the election, the AIADMK lost the bout, squandering away its two seats in the Rajya Sabha. Had the party selected someone other than the two MPs, it could have retained its numbers in the Upper House for the next three-four years. It is sure that the DMK would seize both the seats when the bypolls are held to fill the Rajya Sabha vacancies. The AIADMK is divided on caste, communal and regional basis. O Panneerselvan, the coordinator of the steering committee and former Chief Minister, is not on good terms with Opposition leader E Palaniswamy.
Panneerselvan is yet to recover from the shock of denial of the post of LoP to him which, he believes, belongs to him only. VK Sasikala, Amma’s trusted aide who was appointed the party’s acting general secretary in December 2016 and expelled by Panneerselvan and Palaniswamy in August 2017, is also out to grab the party. She has made many overtures to Panneerselvam, whom she herself ousted as the Chief Minister in February 2017. What Tamil Nadu is seeing is nauseating casteism under the garb of political realignment. Panneerselvam and Sasikala belong to the Thevar community, a dominant section in the AIADMK, while Palaniswamy heads the Gounder faction. How the shadow-boxing in the AIADMK develops is anybody’s guess. This newspaper had forecast in 2015 itself that the AIADMK would disintegrate into many factions and that is unfolding now. Palaniswamy and Panneerselvan would not be able to salvage the political entity launched by MGR. Sasikala is likely to end up as a wheeler-dealer. Tamil Nadu needs a strong politician with commitment to the State to take on DMK’s MK Stalin, who is the monarch of all he surveys, at least for now.