TN: After 6 Years, AIADMK Gets a Leader With Absolute Powers

Chennai: The leadership tussle in All India Anna Dravia Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has likely reached a point of closure with the announcement of Edappadi K Palaniswami as the party’s general secretary. This is the first time the party has an office-bearer with absolute powers after the demise of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed the interim applications filed by former AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and few of his supporters. The Court refused to stay the resolutions of the July 11, 2022 general council meeting and the consequent general secretary election.

Moments later, Leader of Opposition Palaniswami was declared elected as the party’s general secretary. At the AIADMK headquarters, party election commissioners Pollachi V Jayaraman and Natham R Viswanathan handed over the letter of appointment to him. Until now, Palaniswami functioned as the interim general secretary.

However, hours after Palaniswami was declared general secretary of the AIADMK, former chief minister O Panneerselvam appointed 195 functionaries in Salem district, the native place of Palaniswami. In his statement, Panneerselvam continues to address himself as coordinator and treasurer of AIADMK, and is bent on continuing the legal battle.

COUP AGAINST SASAIKALA

After Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, her close aide V K Sasikala assumed the position of interim general secretary of AIADMK. 

Panneerselvam was then the stand-in-chief minister; he was earlier twice hand-picked for the post by Jayalalithaa when she had to step down following her conviction. Though he was elevated for the third time just before she died, Sasikala replaced him with Palaniswami after he rebelled against her.

However, in a political twist, both Panneerselvam and Palaniswami patched up and expelled Sasikala when she was in jail in 2017. The internal coup, backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ousted Sasikala along with her nephew, T T V Dhinakaran, from key positions in AIADMK.

DUAL LEADERSHIP

Panneerselvam became the coordinator of AIADMK and Palaniswami his deputy. In the government, the latter became the Chief Minister, and the former the deputy. This resulted in a dual leadership within the AIADMK.

The party faced a series of electoral losses under the dual leadership. Yet Palaniswami stole the thunder in the 2021 Assembly polls by winning smoothly in the western districts, his native region. On the other hand, the party's performance in the southern districts and the Theni region, home to Panneerselvam, was poor.

After the electoral losses, Palaniswami declared the dual leadership model as not functional.

EPS RISES IN POWER

Despite the electoral defeats, Palaniswami grew stronger due to the support of party office-bearers, district committees, and elected members.

Panneerselvam was removed from the top position and the party membership during the general council meeting on July 11, 2022. Although the lack of support within the party appeared to signal the end of Panneerselvam’s political life in AIADMK, he desperately approached courts to retain power over the party.

While the party general council declared unconditional support for Palaniswami’s unitary leadership, his position remained unsettled as the state government and the Election Commission were hesitant to acknowledge the change in party leadership due to ongoing legal battles.

The latest Madras High Court order, which dismissed all petitions against the decisions and resolutions passed in the July 2022 general council meeting, put the last nail in the coffin for the Panneerselvam faction, which lost the legal battle.

Palaniswami carefully built his image as a leader from a humble farming family rising to power due to his dedication for the party.

Soon after becoming the general secretary, he announced new membership and renewal drive from April 5.

The AIADMK was founded in 1972, and Palaniswami is its sixth general secretary. Party founder M G Ramachandran (MGR), former party supremo J Jayalalithaa, Navalar VR Nedunchezhiyan, P U Shanmugam and S Raghavanandam were the only others who held the top post.