AIADMK, BJP spar for opposition space in TN
The AIADMK seems to be slowly waking up to the elephant in the room, the BJP. Recently, senior AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan openly chastised the party for trying to grow in TN at the AIADMK’s expense. He listed out imposition of Hindi, opposition to NEET, state autonomy, the BJP’s step-motherly treatment towards Tamil Nadu in water disputes such as Cauvery and Mullaiperiyar, and its “support to Sri Lankan government that was behind the killings of 1.5 lakh Tamils in the 2009 war” to underscore his point that the saffron party’s ideology is diametrically opposite to that of the AIADMK. According to him, the alliance with the BJP was merely an electoral adjustment.
Ever since K Annamalai, a former IPS officer, took over as state president of the BJP last year, the party has been pursuing an aggressive agenda, both to strengthen itself and target the ruling DMK, on a range of issues including claims on GST dues from New Delhi and the DMK’s poll promise on fuel price cuts. On the contrary, a docile AIADMK has been losing the perception war with the BJP over taking on the DMK. Though the two top AIADMK leaders, Edappadi K Palaniswamy and O Panneerselvam, have been fairly successful in weathering the Sasikala storm, they have not been able to shrug off the image that the dual leadership is an arrangement of convenience and not conviction. Though the AIADMK is still the only party in TN that can rival the DMK in organisational depth, cadre strength and political legacy, the perceived leadership weakness can weaken it in the long run.
The AIADMK has always been a party driven by larger-than-life-personalities like MGR and Jayalalithaa. The raison d’être for its formation by MGR in 1972 and its sustenance ever since has been its ability to challenge the DMK. The party is now found wanting in both charismatic leadership and political will to take on the ruling party. The recent bravado of AIADMK leaders against the BJP may have been born out of this exigency to prop up the party. Failure of the Dravidian major to take quick remedial measures and strengthen its political base could prove to be a blessing for its saffron ally.