Tamil Nadu’s ruling party is in the throes of a power struggle following the death of its General Secretary J Jayalalithaa. Though O Panneerselvam took her place as Chief Minister on Monday, the question remains over who will lead the AIADMK.
Sasikala Natarajan, a close confidante of Jayalalithaa for nearly three decades, is popularly believed to be making a strong bid for the post of the party’s General Secretary, its top post.
It is one thing to wield power from behind the scenes — as Jayalalithaa’s confidante — and quite another to control the party in the open. “We are in wait-and-watch mode. Nobody in the party knows what’s next,” said a party leader.
Other names And if not Sasikala, then who? Other names being bandied about include that of KA Sengottaiyan, Edapadi Palaniswamy and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai.
A party source said if Sasikala, who is from the powerful Thevar community, becomes General Secretary, she would possibly name a Deputy General Secretary from the equally powerful Goundar community. The Thevars and the Goundars are the two dominant caste groups in the AIADMK.
On Thursday, Pannerselvam and his senior Cabinet colleagues met at the late Jayalalithaa’s residence in Poes Garden, where Sasikala too resides.
A General Secretary is usually elected at the party’s General Council meeting, for which notice should be issued in advance. However, in an emergency situation, the meeting can be called at short notice.
An uphill task Sources said whoever leads the party will find it difficult to replace the vacuum created by the absence of Jayalalithaa, who has held fort since 1989.
The public outcry against Sasikala on social media, political commentator AR Venkatachalapathy says, represents a “skewed picture” and may not “reflect reality”. “We have to rely on real news, and not speculation, on these matters.”