No Bud Amid Two Leaves

A year after Jayalalitha’s death, Tamil Nadu continues to be in a state of political flux

- G.C. Shekhar

AMMA was effectively the sole parent of the party; so her end did leave the legion of supporters practically orphaned. A year has passed after the death of J. Jayalalitha when she was Tamil Nadu chief minister, and her AIADMK continues to be in power—only that its leadership has never since looked solid. The top organisational echelon is in a crisis, as was the case in 1987 when AIADMK founder M.G. Rama­­chandran died and there was a tug of war between two senior netas.

That way, it is a miracle the AIADMK continues to rule the state. After Amma’s death on December 5, 2016, the state has seen two chief ministers: O. Pannerselvam and then Edappadi K. Palanisami. Both quickly turned from proxies to rebels against their political masters—V.K. Sasikala and her family. The rush to fill Jayalalitha’s boots also saw two CM asp­irants—Sasikala and her nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran—tripping, and even going to jail in the process.

The AIADMK suffered a split and managed a merger, which triggered another split. The party’s symbol just got released, so the AIADMK can contest the byelection to the R.K. Nagar Assembly seat that has remained vacant for a year (see box). The merger hasn’t ensured intra-party peace. While Panneerselvam (OPS) and Palanisami (EPS) have joined hands, they have not buried their differences. The two camps continue to remain suspicious of each other’s intentions. “Being the larger group in the government, we expect the EPS group to come up with confidence-­building measures,” says the AIADMK’s V. Maithreyan, MP. “Instead, the EPS group is constantly undermining and insulting OPS and his supporters rather than attack the Sasikala faction.”