In yet another churning in the AIADMK following J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami was on Monday appointed as the party’s interim general secretary by the powerful General Council, which also expelled his challenger O Panneerselvam and his supporters from their primary memberships.
High drama prevailed before and after the General Council, which met just a few minutes after the Madras High Court dismissed a petition filed by Panneerselvam seeking a ban on the meeting. Pushed to the corner, OPS’ supporters used force to enter the AIADMK headquarters leading to clashes with those backing EPS. Stones were hurled at each other while banners and posters containing EPS’ images were torn down.
Panneerselvam was inside the building for over two hours before he was escorted out by revenue officials who sealed the building under section 145 CrPC (disputed property). The police have now asked both the parties/their lawyers to appear before it and depose who holds control over the party headquarters.
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Justice Krishnan Ramasamy, in his judgement, came heavily against OPS for knocking at the doors of the courts to use them as tools for “their convenience to come to their rescue, who are not in a position to gain confidence or support from among the party members in their favour.”
‘EPS is Jaya’s political successor’
At the GC meeting on the outskirts of the city, speaker after speaker projected Palaniswami as the “natural political successor” to Jayalalithaa and took up the anti-DMK cudgels, the oxygen on which the party survives.
Accusing Panneerselvam, who enjoyed the confidence of Jayalalithaa for she made him the stand-by CM twice when she had to quit due to court cases, of “joining hands with the DMK” to “weaken” the AIADMK, the GC expelled him and three of his supporters, two of whom are MLAs. Interestingly, OPS’s son and MP O P Ravindranath remain in the AIADMK.
Though OPS said none could sack him from AIADMK and “expelled” EPS and K P Munusamy, Panneerselvam, in fact, joins the long list of claimants for AIADMK like V K Sasikala and T T V Dhinakaran. OPS will now move the judiciary against his expulsion and try and create trouble for EPS, but it will be a long-drawn battle.
Terminating the dual leadership arrangement which was foisted on AIADMK by the BJP in 2017 to keep the party united – OPS and EPS were coordinators and joint coordinator – the general council brought back the post of general secretary, previously held by M G Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa.
The interim general secretary
“Edappadi K Palaniswami is appointed as the interim general secretary of the AIADMK,” former minister R B Udhayakumar declared at the meeting to thunderous applause by GC members as the party reverted to unitary leadership after a gap of five-and-a-half years. Palaniswami is likely to be elected formally soon with the GC declaring that elections to the GS post will be held within four months.
Taking up the anti-DMK cudgels, the speakers said the party was reverting to the “time-tested” unitary leadership by appointing Palaniswami as the interim general secretary to defeat the DMK in the next elections four years away – the message was also clear to the BJP that it can no longer claim to be the “opposition party” in the state.
The speakers called OPS a “traitor” – R B Udhayakumar, a former minister who was the first to demand Panneerselvam’s scalp in 2016 by asking him to quit to make way for V K Sasikala, equated the former chief minister to Ettappan, who betrayed the celebrated Tamil king Veerapandia Kattabomban by sharing intelligence about him with the British.
Interestingly, it was Udhayakumar who was the first to demand Panneerselvam’s scalp in 2016 by asking him to quit to make way for V K Sasikala.
OPS and his supporters expelled from AIADMK
Other speakers said the party was reverting to the “time-tested” unitary leadership by appointing Palaniswami as the interim GS to defeat the DMK in the next elections four years away – the message was also clear to the BJP that it can no longer claim to be the “opposition party” in the state. Natham R Viswanathan, a former minister, said people don’t know “OPS’ evil face” and accused him of hobnobbing with the DMK.
Minutes later, the resolution to expel OPS and three of his supporters – J C D Prabhakar, Manoj Pandian, and R Vaithilingam – from the party was passed. Interestingly, OPS’ son O P Ravindranath, Lok Sabha from MP Theni, was not expelled from the AIADMK.
‘OPS is a betrayer’
In his acceptance speech, Palaniswami tore into the DMK and OPS alike. He termed OPS as “selfish” and “betrayer” for refusing to be a team player by insisting on continuance of the dual leadership despite the majority of party members wanting to revert to the unitary leadership model. “Is he a leader? Which leader breaks open his own party office and camps away with documents? We will legally reclaim the party HQ,” EPS added.
Palaniswami’s speech in which he made a no-holds-barred attack against DMK is a message to the BJP which likes to project itself as the prime challenger to the ruling party. The political fight in TN will always be AIADMK vs DMK is the message EPS delivered to the BJP which may not be very pleased with his ascension as the unitary leader of the AIADMK.
The BJP angle
However, BJP, which happily fished in the troubled waters of the AIADMK owing to the confusion caused by dual leadership, seems to have decided not to take any stand on the internal tussle. For the record, TN BJP chief K Annamalai spoke to EPS and wished him his new.
Insiders said the BJP didn’t take a stand this time as it didn’t want to rub the EPS faction the wrong way as the party needs AIADMK’s support in the elections for President and vice-president. Also, the LS elections are just two years away and the BJP would need AIADMK to put up a spirited fight against the DMK-Congress combine.
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