The general council and the executive committee meetings of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam at the end of the year are unlikely to throw any surprise. Despite the rank and file of the party rallying behind V.K.Sasikala, calling on her every other day at 81, Poes Garden in Chennai and expressing their support for her elevation to the top post in the party, the close aide of late Jayalalithaa doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to move to the helm. Her stoic expression and gesture thanking every visitor with folded hands clearly indicate her cautiousness in taking over as the general secretary of the party.
The general council and the executive committee are scheduled to meet in Chennai on December 29. A road map for the party’s future without Jayalalithaa would be clearly set at the crucial meeting.
When the 50 odd district secretaries of the AIADMK met on Friday under party’s organising secretary E. Madhusudhanan to discuss further course of action and convene the general council, things looked normal inside the party office premises. The ministers, party seniors and even district secretaries were not grim faced. It seemed all the district secretaries and other seniors in the party were getting ready to set the tone for Sasikala to take over, but not immediately.
“Chinnamma will be our general secretary. Tell me one leader’s name in the party other than Chinnamma who can keep the flock intact,” says a former minister, who did not want to be quoted.
Meanwhile, rebel MP Sasikala Pushpa has stepped up her fight against Sasikala quoting the party’s constitution. Section 30 of the party’s constitution says that only those who have been members of the party continuously for five years can be elected as its office bearers. With such a rule existing, it will be difficult for Sasikala to take charge of the party chief as she was thrown out from the party, lock, stock and barrel on December 19, 2011. “No doubt. To hold an office in the party, one ought to have completed five years as a member. But this is not at all a controversy. The rule maker has all the rights to annul, amend, expand and contract the rule. The general body is the sole authority to amend the rules,” party spokesperson C. Ponnaiyan told THE WEEK.
However, party insiders are of the opinion that after the high profile raids by the Income Tax department in the state, including in the house and residence of former chief secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao, things have slowed down. Although Sasikala, her family members, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam or even his senior party colleagues have not made any comment on the raids, sources in the party say that the power centres inside Poes Garden have started playing their cards close to their chest.
Apparently, an immediate coronation of Sasikala is unlikely, contrary to what many political observers opined. “Chinnamma will wait for the right time. What is the immediate need for her to take over? Already we all are with her and the entire party will rally behind her soon,” says a party senior on condition of anonymity. In fact, Sasikala, he says, has still not told anybody if she will take over as the general secretary. “Every time we met her, she only heard us. She did not utter even a single word. She has still not expressed her willingness to be elected as the general secretary.” However as a general council member, Sasikala will take part in the general council meeting and be seated in the first row as she used to do when Jayalalithaa chaired the top party meetings.
Sources say the general council will be a low key meeting, and at the first instance, it will mourn the demise of the party general secretary. Sources also add that the general council will, as always, resolve saying Jayalalithaa will continue to be the party’s permanent general secretary. According to them, the general council can tell the election commission that the general secretary will be elected sometime in 2017, as they still have not come out of the grief of losing their beloved leader.
On the other side, sources also say that Sasikala and her family are waiting to come out of all the hurdles like the disproportionate assets case pending in the Supreme Court and make the cadres accept her leadership for a smooth take over.
