Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s re-election as party general secretary for the seventh time was a foregone conclusion. But in the process, the AIADMK got richer by Rs6.16 crores on Friday when 2,467 party workers filed bank drafts of Rs25,000 each drawn in favour of the party as nomination fee for Jayalalithaa. No names other than that of Amma, as Jayalalithaa is fondly called by the people of the State, had been proposed.
When the election schedule was announced early this month, it was certain that Jayalalithaa would be re-elected as party chief. The only interest in the election was the number of nominations which would be filed proposing the name of Amma for the coveted post. Till date no other political party, at least in Tamil Nadu, has received such a large number of nomination papers for a single individual.
Election for the post of AIADMK general secretary is held once in every five years. Jayalalithaa has been holding the post since 1987 following the death of party founder MG Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR.
With her re-election as party chief, Jayalalithaa became the second longest-serving chief of a political party in the country. Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the DMK president, who has been holding the post since 1969 has the record of the longest-serving chief of a political in the country. Karunanidhi is second only to Fidel Castro, who holds the world record as the longest-serving party boss. Castro had a 50-year tenure as secretary of the Cuban Communist Party from 1961 to 2011. If Karunanidhi (92) continues to be the president of the DMK for another five years, he will equal or surpass Castro’s achievement.
Visalakshi Nedunc-
henzhiyan, organisational secretary of the party, who was the election commissioner, said 2,467 nomination papers were filed by party members seeking re-election of Jayalalithaa. “As there were no other names, Jayalalithaa has been elected unanimously as general secretary,” she said.
A jubilant Jayalalithaa said she was moved by the affection and trust the party men had placed in her. “The AIADMK is left with no enemies because of the good work done by the party,” said Jayalalithaa while addressing hundreds of party workers who had thronged to the AIADMK headquarters. She said the victories recorded by the party in the 2011 Assembly elections and the subsequent local body elections show that the party does not have any enemies as the people had acknowledged the AIADMK as their own party.
“We created history with the victory in the 2014 lok Sabha election which cannot be replicated by anyone. Our only motive is to work for the welfare of the people,” said Jayalalithaa who also released the names of party candidates for the ensuing by-election to the local bodies in the State scheduled for September. Now the only point of interest is the number of nomination forms which would be filed in the name of Karunanidhi during the organisational elections of the DMK scheduled for later this year.