Marching towards its golden jubilee, the AIADMK has dumped its five-year experiment with dual leadership and expelled O. Panneerselvam, one of its charioteers. Edappadi K. Palaniswami, a former accidental Chief Minister with a strong political survival instinct, will now steer the party as its interim general secretary. In 2017, when a three-way split threatened his fledgling government, he prudently accepted a BJP-facilitated arrangement in which he and Mr. Panneerselvam would share equal organisational powers. Sensing such shared leadership requiring disproportionate compromises had outlived its purpose, Mr. Palaniswami plotted its dismantling. Having earned the trust of legislators during his regime through a “decentralisation of resources”, he adopted the same strategy to fortify his party base. Steadfastly opposing attempts by Jayalalithaa’s friend V.K. Sasikala to regain control of the AIADMK; maintaining social distance with the ruling DMK; and not ceding much ground to the BJP during seat-sharing negotiations, worked to his advantage. In contrast, Mr. Panneerselvam came across as someone reluctant to fund party colleagues; deliberately maintaining ambiguity on Ms. Sasikala’s position; overtly inclined to do the BJP’s bidding, and extending cordiality to DMK leaders. Many prominent leaders, who stood by him during his ‘ Dharma Yudham’ against Ms. Sasikala, feeling alienated, switched camps.
Yet, the transition to unitary leadership has not been smooth in a party acclimatised to being herded by supremos since its founding in October 1972. A miserably outnumbered Mr. Panneerselvam made a futile bid to retain status quo in the party, through courts, overriding the majority will of the general council and earning a judicial reprimand. Coinciding with Mr. Palaniswami’s coronation, he forcibly entered the party headquarters amid violent clashes, leading to sealing of the premises. He has approached the Election Commission of India to nullify the general council’s decisions. Apart from surmounting these legal challenges in time to face the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the party’s incumbent custodian has to do the balancing act in dealing with strong sub-regional satraps from the Gounder, Mukkulathor and Vanniyar communities. Getting elected within four months as general secretary by primary members with a broader segment of district secretaries endorsing his nomination, as per the amended bylaw, could help in Mr. Palaniswami’s quest for supremacy. Left with fewer supporters of consequence, Mr. Panneerselvam’s best known credentials remain that of a dutiful loyalist of Jayalalithaa. Mr. Panneerselvam might try to seek political legitimacy through the legal route. But other than hampering the functioning of the AIADMK for a few more months, he might achieve little. Any long-term disruption in the party, which has ruled for a record 31 years, may end up permanently altering the bipolar nature of politics in Tamil Nadu.
