The first round of the fight between the VK Sasikala and O Panneerselvam factions of the AIADMK for the Two leaves symbol saw both the groups filing lakhs of affidavits from party office-bearers with the Election Commission of India which is hearing the claims of the two groups. The last day for filing the affidavits was Friday. A spokesman of the Panneerselvam faction of the party said his group had filed nearly four lakh affidavits while the Sasikala faction also claimed that they too had submitted an equal number of affidavits.
The Election Commission had frozen the Two leaves symbol in March 2017 following the claims by the two factions to use the symbol for the RK Nagar bypoll scheduled for April 2017. The poll was rescinded by the Commission following reports of large scale distribution of cash by the contestants.
But what started as a two-way fight for the legacy of late J Jayalalithaa, the former Chief Minister and party general secretary, saw Deepa Madhavan Patrick, niece of Jayalalithaa, making an entry early this week with claims that she was the real legal heir of the late leader. Deepa, who had launched the MGR Amma Deepa Party (MAD Party) staked her claims for the Two leaves symbol with a new outfit by name AIADMK (Deepa).
While the two factions led by Panneerselvam and Sasikala do not see eye to eye on any issues, both the groups were unanimous in their opposition to Deepa whom they described as a novice and maverick who was never in the picture while Jayalalithaa was alive. The Sasikala faction itself is split vertically between Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy and TTV Dinakaran, the deputy general secretary of the AIADMK who is also the nephew of Sasikala.
Dinakaran, who was eased out of the party office by a group of ministers who are close to Palaniswamy, has started asserting himself after he came back to Chennai flowing his release from Tihar Jail on bail. He had been arrested along with conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar in connection with the attempt to bribe officials in the ECI to get the Two leaves symbol allocated to his faction. At the time of going to press, it is reported that 34 of the 122 MlAs who had supported Palaniswamy during the February trust vote have declared their support to Dinakaran.
But there is no possibility of any imminent danger to the Edappadi Palaniswamy government as all the players in both the factions know well that they would be wiped out in the event of a snap poll. According to a survey held by Thanti TV, a 24X7 news channel, more than 60 per cent of the participants were thoroughly disappointed with the state of affairs. leader of Opposition MK Stalin was selected by 40 per cent of the people as the ideal candidate for the Chief Minister.
Since the ECI is busy with the Presidential poll, a decision on the symbol would be known only after August 2017.