Tough terrain

Tough terrain

The internal turbulence in the AIADMK can cast a shadow on its future electoral prospects.

The AIADMK, founded by matinee idol MG Ramachandran in 1972 and nurtured by his heir J Jayalalithaa, lost the 2021 Assembly election to the rival DMK and its allies by a narrow margin. The party was fighting an anti-incumbency wave and managed to win 66 seats out of the 234 in stake. This shows that it gave a tough fight to the DMK and did not face any washout as forecasted by opinion polls. The absence of a charismatic leader like Jayalalithaa is very much experienced in the party. The upcoming election to the local bodies and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is going to be the AIADMK’s agnipareeksha. What is worrying the AIADMK cadre is the three-way fight between Edappadi Palaniswami, O Panneerselvam and VK Sasikala, the aide to late Jayalalithaa for the control of the party. Sasikala, who served a four-year term in a Bangalore jail in connection with the Disproportionate Assets Case and was released just before the 2021 Assembly election, had been removed from the AIADMK by a specially convened General Council meeting by the EPS-OPS duo. But Sasikala claims that she is still the general secretary of the party and issues statements on a daily basis. But these statements do not have any telephone numbers or email ids or even the mailing address.

Jayalalithaa had ousted Sasikala and her relations from the AIADMK and Veda Nilayam (Jayalalithaa’s elegant bungalow in Chennai) on December 19, 2011, by an order issued by none other than Amma herself. She had asked party cadres not to have any kind of contact with Sasikala or her family since they had brought disrepute to the party. But on March 31, 2012, Sasikala tendered a public apology to the party cadre and declared that she would never ever enter politics and her entire life has been dedicated to serve Amma. Sasikala returned to Veda Nilayam on April 2, 2012, and since then she has been acting as a personal aide to Jayalalithaa. Her close relations continued to be persona non grata in the AIADMK. Till date, it remains a mystery how TTV Dhinakaran and others returned to Jayalalithaa’s bungalow and the AIADMK. Jayalalithaa had not issued any statements till the day she was admitted to a corporate hospital in September 2016. Hence Sasikala’s claims that she was the general secretary of the AIADMK is dubious and has to be investigated.