Single leader for AIADMK: Panneerselvam, Palaniswami hold consultations with aides

With deep fissures between them coming out in the open yet again, AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday held separate discussions with their supporters, a day after the demand for reverting to “singular leadership” resonated at a key party meet.

While supporters of OPS pasted posters across Chennai backing him for the top post in AIADMK, a senior leader, Dindigul C Sreenivasan, openly announced that he will back Palaniswami (EPS).

It is learnt that the faction led by Palaniswami, joint coordinator of the party and Leader of Opposition, wants Panneerselvam (OPS) to give up the post of coordinator to enable the former to assume charge as single leader of the AIADMK. The reason cited for going back to the “time-tested” single leadership formula is the “ineffectiveness” of the current model where OPS and EPS control the party jointly.

The EPS faction believes his being at the top will help the party “counter” the ruling DMK in an “efficient way” and also challenge the BJP which is projecting itself as the principal Opposition party. After a detailed discussion with EPS, a delegation of senior leaders owing allegiance to him met OPS at his residence and are believed to have exhorted him to make way for Palaniswami.

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Panneerselvam, whose support base has shrunk since his Marina Rebellion against V K Sasikala, also met his supporters, and held consultations on how to challenge the offensive from the EPS camp. He met J C D Prabhakar and Manoj Pandian – both members of the Steering Committee – more than once since Tuesday when the EPS camp raised the issue of a single leader at a party meeting called to discuss the agenda for the June 23 General Council.

“While EPS is making a clear attempt to assert his authority to emerge as the only leader of the party like M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, OPS has decided to fight this time. His supporters ask a simple question: why should he be the one to sacrifice always? Both have taken a hard stance,” a senior AIADMK leader told DH.

A source from the OPS faction said the “dual leadership” set-up should not be disturbed and there will be “serious repercussions” for the AIADMK if the current arrangement is “tampered with.”

However, the EPS faction is mulling several options including moving a resolution in favour of single leadership at the GC meeting on June 23. “Panneerselvam feels he should not oblige the EPS faction this time. But given his limited support base, it is not very easy for him to put up a strong fight. At the same time, EPS also cannot force OPS beyond a point. We will have to wait for a few more days,” the party leader said.

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After J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, her long-time aide V K Sasikala was appointed as interim general secretary, but EPS and OPS joined hands to keep the latter and her family away from the AIADMK. To ensure that the party stays united, OPS and EPS experimented with a “dual leadership” for the first time in the history of AIADMK – they introduced amendments to the bye-laws of the party to allow them to get elected through a single-vote system.

However, the almost five-year-old experiment seems to be failing. The demand made on Tuesday was a surprise for many as just a month ago Palaniswami, the joint coordinator, said that the demand for a “singular leadership” doesn’t arise at all as he and Panneerselvam were “working together” in the interests of the party.

OPS, who stood for Jayalalithaa twice when she had to resign as chief minister due to corruption cases, lost his clout within the party after the 2017 Marina Rebellion against Sasikala even as EPS consolidated his position within the party by completing his tenure and leading the AIADMK to the best-ever performance in a losing election.

OPS, who lost his support base slowly to EPS, was hoping for Sasikala, the woman against whom he rebelled, to make a comeback but she couldn't galvanize the party. But as things stand today, EPS is dead opposed to Sasikala’s re-entry into the party – a stand that is supported by many leaders, including those perceived to be close to OPS.

Palaniswami, hand-picked by Sasikala as Chief Minister in 2017 before she went to serve her four-year term in a disproportionate assets (DA) case, had stonewalled BJP's proposal to induct her into the party or alliance before the 2021 assembly polls, maintaining that the “core vote bank” of the AIADMK stays with the party and not the splinter group.