Sengottaiyan throws down gauntlet, but EPS unlikely to blink

Move could flop due to lack of support inside party, with most senior leaders keeping mum

- T MURUGANANDHAM @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.