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

SINCE becoming chief minister in 2017 and going on to cement his position as the sole leader of the AIADMK despite electoral losses, including in 2021 Assembly polls, party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has developed a reputation for being unyielding to appeals to accommodate expelled leaders.

Nonetheless, the gauntlet thrown down by veteran party leader K A Sengottaiyan on Friday, in the form of an ultimatum that Palaniswami bring such leaders back into the fold within 10 days, is possibly the toughest challenge yet faced by the 71-year-old.

When his leadership was challenged by former CM O Panneerselvam, AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, and the late J Jayalalithaa's confidante V K Sasikala, the fault lines were clear: the cadres did not sympathise with the three leaders' cause and the party's top brass firmly backed Palaniswami without any explicit dissent.

Sengottaiyan's open defiance is perhaps the first time a senior leader and staunch AIADMK man is making his dissatisfaction known in public, after unsuccessful attempts to reason with Palaniswami, as the former claimed during his interaction with media on Friday. Further, the nine-time MLA hails from the Kongu region, the AIADMK's stronghold, and has spoken out at a time when the party's rank and file is fatigued after successive electoral defeats.