A massive dark cloud hovering over the ruling faction of the AIADMK lifted on Thursday after the Election Commission ruled it has the right to the frozen Two Leaves symbol and the party name. For Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy CM O Panneerselvam, it was as if the year-end festival season had arrived early. There was jubilation all around as the order gave the leadership legitimacy and the opportunity to galvanise the cadre.
On the flip side the order validated the purge of the V K Sasikala clan from leadership positions in the AIADMK during the last general council meeting called by the EPS-OPS combine. Since the party constitution mandates that the general secretary must be elected only by the cadre, the general council craftily blocked that position forever for late party icon J Jayalalithaa, thus extinguishing Sasikala’s right to hold that post. By extension, all decisions taken by her, including pulling nephew T T V Dhinakaran out of expulsion and handing over charge of the party as its deputy general secretary before she went to jail in an assets case were nullified.
As expected, the EC went by the headcount benchmark it applied while deciding the Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (United) cases, to the AIADMK dispute as well. It pointed out that the ruling group had as many as 34 Lok Sabha and eight Rajya Sabha members plus 111 legislators in TN and four in Puducherry, as compared to a total of 26 MPs and MLAs with the rebels. Also 1,741 affidavits filed by general council members in favour of EPS-OPS were found valid as compared to 145 such affidavits from the rivals. The clan didn’t stand a chance in the numbers game.
While Dhinakaran predictably rubbished the order, the advantage clearly lies with the ruling group, though the Madras High Court is still looking into the question of its majority in the Assembly. It now needs to focus on good governance and shake off the impression that its agenda is being set elsewhere.