Tamil Nadu has seen several decades of imperial politics. M G Ramachandran and M Karunanidhi acted and wrote scripts for the underclass. But they were remote figures, to whom ordinary people had no access. Jayalalithaa even more so. All these leaders controlled a strong party system and they pulled organisational levers to get it to work for them. When in government, the bureaucracy was a trusted ally. There was a certain cachet to being unavailable and aloof. It added mystique to leadership.
This is now changing, somewhat. Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam comes from a well-known Theni family of agriculturists and
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
