Not long ago, when the special general council meeting of the AIADMK was held at the sprawling marriage hall on the Chennai-Bengaluru highway on December 29, 2016, it made headlines, setting the tone for a long-term political instability in Tamil Nadu.
Held two days before the New Year, the ruling party went on a publicity blitzkrieg as the aim of the meet was to choose a new leadership. Posters and giant cutouts dotted the highway, where a smiling Jayalalithaa went behind to give space for her close aide V.K. Sasikala aka Chinnamma to greet the AIADMK cadre with folded hands. The party’s over the top celebrations to bring in Sasikala to lead the party invited the wrath of the general public.
Exactly eight months later, in contrast, the posters claiming Sasikala as the next Puratchi Thalaivi or revolutionary leader are seen nowhere on the posters announcing the general council meet of the party on Tuesday. Jayalalithaa and her mentor MGR have become small icons on the posters, giving space for Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, thus setting the tone for all the theatrics that are likely in the party meet.
As the infighting in the ruling AIADMK is getting murkier day by day with Palanisamy, Panneerselvam and T.T.V. Dhinakaran, all eyes will be on the general council meeting to be held in the same venue that elected Sasikala as the interim general secretary.
As of now, the general council of the AIADMK comprises at least 2,500 members and the meeting, sources say, will be on the expected lines—the chorus will be to ouster Sasikala clan and make Palanisamy and Panneerselvam lead the party. The agenda of the meeting, according to sources, will be to remove Sasikala clan from the party lock, stock and barrel and get back the frozen two-leaves symbol. The CM had reportedly back-to-back meetings with MLAs, ministers, party seniors, DGP T.K. Rajendran and Chennai City Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan at his Greenways Road residence on Monday. Though it was said that the meeting with the top cops was to discuss on the growing anti-NEET agitations, informed sources in the AIADMK said the CM met them was to ensure that the MLAs and others backing Dhinakaran do not create any ruckus during the council meeting.
According to well informed sources in the party, around 2,500 invitations have been sent to the general council members and at least 300 to 400 of them are Dhinakaran supporters. Only members who have received the invitation will be allowed to attend the meeting.
The resolutions
Resolutions to retrieve the party’s frozen two-leaves symbol and get back the party’s original name—All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam—are likely to be in the agenda. Besides there will be a resolution which says that all the office bearers who were at the helm of affairs in the party when Jayalalithaa was live, will continue to hold office. The most important resolution, according to sources, will declare the election of V.K. Sasikala as the interim general secretary of the party as null and void.
Another resolution to make changes in the bylaw to constitute a steering committee that will be headed by Panneerselvam as its secretary and Palanisamy as its deputy secretary is likely to be passed. This resolution, sources say, assumes importance, as both Panneerselvam and Palanisamy will have powers to sign Form A and Form B jointly to nominate a candidate to contest any election. Also the general council is expected to resolve to convene a full-fledged general council in December this year to elect the party general secretary. These resolutions, according to informed sources, will be submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to declare an official merger approved by ECI to get back the symbol and the party’s original name.
Significantly, a day before the general council meet, minister Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan, who was with Panneerselvam, only to be elevated as the Tamil development minister, withdrew his petition in the Supreme Court, seeking to declare the trust vote win by Palanisamy on February 18 as null and void.
Dhinakaran on the receiving end
In the meantime, Dhinakaran supporter MLA P. Vetrivel’s plea in the Madras High Court, seeking a stay on the general council meet was dismissed. The court asked Vetrivel to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh for wasting its time. He had approached the Madras High Court on Friday, demanding a stay on the meeting. In his petition, he argued that the party’s interim general secretary alone has the power to convene general council meeting as per the party bylaw. He further claimed that the meeting called by Palanisamy and Panneerselvam is illegal and sought a stay. Earlier on September 1, in a statement, Dhinakaran had said there was no clarification on the agenda of the meeting and that without an order from Sasikala, the general council cannot be convened.
On the other hand, the Trichy Corporation denied permission to Dhinakaran’s public rally against NEET, scheduled for Tuesday. Earlier, Dhinakaran had called off his anti-NEET agitations, believing that the Supreme Court had banned protests against NEET. A day before that, one of the MLAs S.T.K Jakkaiyan, from his camp reportedly switched sides to the Palanisamy camp. Clearly, with all the developments, Dhinakaran seems to be losing his space slowly in the party while Palanisamy is again gaining an upper hand.
In the meantime, Sasikala’s husband M. Natarajan has been admitted to a Gleneagles Global Health City in Chennai with multiple organ failure. Natarajan’s health is said to be critical. “Currently, he is admitted at the Liver Intensive Care Unit with decompensated liver disease leading to liver failure, kidney failure and lung congestion. He is receiving dialysis and other intensive care therapies. He is being taken care by a multidisciplinary team of liver specialists headed by Mohamed Rela. He has been registered with the Tamil Nadu Organ Sharing (TNOS) waiting list for deceased donor liver transplantation,” said a press note from the hospital. Natarajan, since February, has been receiving treatment at Gleneagles Global Health City, the note said.
