Peace of wisdom dawns on AIADMK as Palaniswami masters internal challenges

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the party in power in Tamil Nadu, has ended an internal power tussle between Chief Minister K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam – something which was threatening the party’s future.
 

After a marathon meeting, which started on October 6 and continued till 3 am on October 7, Panneerselvam announced Palaniswami, 66, would be the party’s chief ministerial candidate for next year’s assembly election.
 

Panneerselvam was chief minister whenever J Jayalaithaa had to vacate office due to legal or health reasons, and also after her death. But he resigned following his power tussle with V K Sasikala, who announced Palaniswami as chief minister before going to prison in 2017.
 

Panneerselvam later joined hands with Palaniswami to oust Sasikala and her family from the party. However, his faction projected him for the top post and for the past two months it has been hinting at a leadership change.
 

The party has been facing turbulent times, such as power struggles, divisions among top leaders and ministers, and the absence of a charismatic leader after Jayalalithaa. But farmer-turned-politician Palaniswami has managed to master the challenges and emerged as the undisputed leader. As consolation, Panneerselvam’s demand for an 11-member steering committee to decide party affairs was acceded to. But even there Palaniswami will have the upper hand, with six members on the committee being his loyalists.
 

Both the leaders presented a unified face to the public and party cadre at the party’s headquarters in Chennai on October 7 and late evening, Palaniswami went to Panneerselvam’s house to thank him.
 

The message from the leaders was clear. For the sake of the AIADMK, they can’t afford a split, which will give an edge to the DMK, and instability in the party had ended.
 

It is common practice among parties in Tamil Nadu not to announce the chief minister candidate before Assembly polls. K Kamaraj, C N Annadurai, M Karunanidhi, M G Ramachandran (MGR) and Jayalalithaa were the natural choices for the post.

K P Munusamy, a senior AIADMK leader and the party’s deputy coordinator, said: “Palaniswami and Panneerselvam rose from the ranks. It is but natural that we have to declare Palaniswami our nominee so that there is no confusion among the party workers.”
 

Dindigul C. Sreenivasan, minister for forest and organising secretary of the party, said Palaniswami had been MLA and MP and was a good administrator. “He is our natural CM candidate.”
 

This gave the party the confidence to announce his name eight months before the elections, said Sumanth C Raman, a political commentator, adding that the party wanted to end infighting.
 

Experts and veteran journalists have concurred and added the AIADMK survived by retaining its pole position through consolidating the governance legacies of MGR and Jayalalithaa and accommodating factional interests. The party has managed to keep intact the support of the Gounders, who are influential in the western parts of the state and back Palaniswami, and the Thevars, who wield influence in the southern areas and are Panneerselvam’s support base.
 

The government has taken a series of initiatives to please the electorate. The chief minister himself listed some of the major achievements of the government during the past four years, including those regarding the Cauvery waters dispute, declaring delta districts “protected agricultural zones”, implementing the Athikadavu-Avinashi project, linking the Cauvery, Vaigai, and Gundar rivers, etc.
 

Palaniswami said through the Global Investors Meet investment of more than Rs 3 trillion came to Tamil Nadu.
 

“I humbly say this: The government, which is led by a farmer and has to its credit many achievements, is giving you an opportunity to seek vote for the Two Leaves symbol,” said Palaniswami.
 

The other factor which helped him is the leadership vacuum. Actor-turned-politicians including Vijaya Kanth and Kamal Haasan have failed to catch the fancy of the masses, while Rajinikanth has not even announced his party.
 

Kolakala Srinivasan, a political commentator, said that while the recent developments would not create any confusion, one needed to wait for the outcome of the election, which might trigger a new set of issues.
 

The big question now is: What will happen after Sasikala returns from prison ahead of the assembly election? She is serving a four-year jail term at Bengaluru Parppana Agrahara Central Jail. She is likely to be released before January.