The ruling AIADMK is in turmoil following a disclosure by a former MLA from Thoothukudi district that Kadambur C Raju, the Minister for Information and Publicity in the Edappadi Palaniswamy Government, is heading the “sleeper cell” working for TTV Dhinakaran and VK Sasikala, the expelled leaders.
GV Markandeyan, former AIADMK legislator, alleged that Minister Raju, who is a close relative of Sasikala, was sending AIADMK MLAs to Dhinakaran’s camp. The dissident leader Dhinakaran has been claiming from day one that there were many sleeper cells in the Edappadi Palaniswamy camp owing allegiance to the former. “They would come to me at the right moment and this will cause the downfall of this Government,” Dhinakaran had told many times.
According to Markandeyan, Minister Raju managed to get the party ticket for the 2016 Assembly election at the instance of Sasikala and he was a camp follower of Dhinakaran and Sasikala. But Raju refuted the allegations and claimed that the party was in a growth trajectory in the district.
“There is no factionalism in the party. There is no need to accord any importance to an individual’s opinion,” Raju told media persons. He also asked them not to take Markandeyan seriously because the latter was desperate.
Interestingly, Raju has not spoken anything against Dhinakaran or Sasikala lending credence to the charges by Markandeyan. There are reports that the legislators who were disqualified by the Speaker and whose action was upheld by the Madras High Court had joined the Dhinakaran faction.
The AIADMK which is facing a precarious situation in the Legislative Assembly because of the loss of 19 MLAs, has to win at least 19 of the 20 by polls, for which the Election Commission may announce the schedule any time from now.
A speech delivered by Cooperation Minister Sellur K Raju recently had caused ripples in the party. While addressing a party meeting at Madurai, Raju said that the day was not far off when the AIADMK would be headed by a woman.
What is to be noted is that both the Rajus have not told anything critical of Sasikala and Dhinakaran till date. Sellur Raju later issued a clarification stating that his words were a pep-talk for women activists of the party and it should not be mis-interpreted.
KA Johny, author and columnist who is a keen follower of the AIADMK politics said that these developments need not be taken seriously. “We have to wait for the Supreme Court ruling on the petition demanding the disqualification of deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and ten MLAs who had voted against the Edappadi Palaniswamy Government in the trust vote held in February 2017. That will be the turning point in AIADMK politics. Till then the AIADMK has no major crisis,” said Johny who also forecast that Dhinakaran would take control of the AIADMK in the coming months.
But Govindarajan Satyamurthy, veteran scribe and commentator said that the sleeper cells of Dhinakaran are alive and kicking in the AIADMK. “We may have to wait till the by-elections are over. The AIADMK is unlikely to win even a single seat and there would be a rebellion in the party against Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswamy. Let’s wait for six months,” said Satyamurthy who is confident that KA Sengotiyyan, the School Education Minister would be the chief ministerial candidate once the Mannargudi clan led by Sasikala takes control of the party.