CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, who has overcome numerous challenges to his leadership since he became chief minister in 2017, now faces a serious test, with veteran party leader K A Sengottaiyan, hailing from the influential Kongu belt, throwing down the gauntlet.
By issuing a 10-day ultimatum demanding the readmission of leaders who had parted ways from the party, Sengottaiyan has signalled open defiance and placed EPS under unprecedented pressure.
Sengottaiyan’s move carries weight because it hints at an undercurrent of dissent within the AIADMK — the demand for a unified AIADMK including all those who had left (or been expelled from) the party since the death of former CM J Jayalalithaa — and comes when the party’s rank and file is fatigued from successive electoral defeats.
While Sengottaiyan, the otherwise soft-spoken nine-time MLA, appreciated by former CM J Jayalalithaa for his organisational skills, has asserted that several like-minded leaders in the AIADMK share his concerns, the real measure of his clout lies in how many are willing to step into the open and stand by him.
Quick support from those who have been expelled from the AIADMK — including O Panneerselvam, V K Sasikala and R Vaithilingam — was on expected lines. The AMMK general secretary, T T V Dhinakaran, too will back him. Their support, though politically significant, will remain symbolic because they stand outside the party fold.
However, the five leaders whom Sengottaiyan claimed had also, after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, urged Palaniswami to readmit all expelled leaders — S P Velumani, P Thangamani, K P Anbazhagan, C Ve Shanmugam and Natham R Viswanathan — were silent on Friday. According to sources, Sengottaiyan, who is in touch with many leaders in the AIADMK, is likely to convince them to back his call in the coming days.
The million-dollar question, however, is whether EPS will blink. If the party’s reaction on Friday is anything to go by, he may remain as unyielding as ever with Shanmugam even discounting Sengottaiyan’s remarks as unimportant. “This is (Sengottaiyan’s remarks) unimportant. What will happen after 10 days? Nothing will happen,” the former minister retorted when TNIE contacted him for a comment. When Dindigul C Srinivasan told reporters on Friday that the party would abide by EPS’ decision, Viswanathan, sitting beside him, firmly backed this view.
It remains to be the party’s senior leaders will remain silence or if they are buying time for EPS to make a decision with intense backroom discussions under way. Undoubtedly, how the BJP, the AIADMK’s ally, approaches the issue would also be a crucial factor; its state president Nainar Nagenthran welcomed Sengottaiyan’s call.
A longtime AIADMK sympathiser told TNIE that this crisis is of EPS’ own making due to his “adamant attitude” as Sengottaiyan is an affable leader who could have been pacified through direct talks.
On the other hand, a senior AIADMK functionary said Sengottaiyan’s challenge would fizzle out. He said same fears were expressed when Jayalalithaa took over the party leadership from M G Ramachandran and when EPS expelled the three leaders and their supporters. “The fears did not come true,” he said.
A key difference, however, is that Jayalalithaa cemented her leadership with a quick electoral victory in 1991, a feat that has eluded Palaniswami. That is why Sengottaiyan’s defiance is a delicate challenge for him to navigate.
A senior AIADMK functionary, on condition of anonymity, told TNIE that Sengottaiyan’s posture will not affect the party in any way. Amma (J Jayalalithaa) faced such issues after the demise of party founder MG Ramachandran. People sarcastically asked whether MGR and Jayalalithaa were equal. But Amma overcame all those obstacles and rose above and proved that she was one of the strong leaders of the AIADMK. Similarly, Edappadi K Palaniswami will rise above these minor obstacles. When VK Sasikala and TTV Dhinakan were kept out of the AIADMK affairs, similar doubts were raised, and when O Panneerselvam was expelled, apprehensions were raised. But Palaniswami has overcome all of them.
“Why did Sengottaiyan keep mum when action was taken against Sasikala, Dhinakaran and Panneerselvam? Why did he not raise this issue then?”, the functionary asked. Also, the functionary alleged that the DMK is behind Sengottaiyan raising this issue now. “I say this because, for the past four and a half years, Sengottaiyan did not raise his voice against the DMK on any occasion. When the son of Panneerselvam praised the Stalin government, Sengottaiyan did not condemn it. Since the party high command has directed us not to react to the Sengottaiyan issue, we are keeping silent. Otherwise, there would have been a volley of responses to him from senior leaders by this time.
Palaniswami holds silence on ultimatum
Theni: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami did not make any remark about Sengottaiyan’s ultimatum for unity and instead focused on local issues during his public meeting in Theni on Friday. Palaniswami, who addressed three meetings in Theni district, also avoided questions from media persons on the issue. While travelling from Cumbum to Bodinyakkur, scores of people blocked Palaniswami’s vehicle in Cumbum and Sankarapuram and raised slogans urging him to re-induct the expelled leaders.