AIADMK general council meeting: Tamil Nadu's political theatre could not get more Shakespearean

It was as if Tamil Nadu was being treated to a morning show of its favorite prime time reality show Bigg Boss on Tuesday. With the voting rights vested in the 2,140 members of the AIADMK general council and 290 executive council members, VK Sasikala was finally eliminated from the House where she had stayed as captain aka interim general secretary for close to 35 weeks. In the mean time, the producers of this real life political reality show that started on 22 September last year, the night J Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, had summoned Sasikala’s proxy TTV Dhinakaran several times into the confession room, asking him and his aunt to leave the House on their own. When several eviction notices did not bear fruit, the party decided to resort to strong-arm tactics, with the muscle power in the form of numbers carrying out the ouster. [caption id=“attachment_4034829” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of O Panneerselvam and E Palaniswami. PTI[/caption] With this, the Panneerselvam-Palaniswami united faction has bitten the bullet. The decision ran the risk of desertions from the ruling camp, but it is a calculated risk. The ruling camp believes the Dhinakaran camp will not see a significant rise in numbers and many of the Mannargudi family loyalists over the past couple of weeks have been identified and wooed. These were the sleeper cells about which Dhinakaran kept bragging and he may find to his dismay that he no longer controls the password to activate many of them when the time comes. The visuals from inside the meeting venue — where the decision to sack Sasikala was taken, followed by thunderous applause — will upset Dhinakaran. For the family that thought it owned the AIADMK, it was visual proof of the coup that had unseated them. Rewind to December 2016, when as soon as Sasikala was elected the interim general secretary, banners with her photograph came up at the meeting venue to signify the new power regime. Then just about every AIADMK leader stood in line to fall at her feet, their backs suitably bent. On Tuesday, the rug was pulled from under Sasikala’s feet by the same combination of leaders. What was unveiled in Chennai was a sequel to the turbulent month of February when OPS revolted against Sasikala. ‘AIADMK Returns’ has a new cast, with the late Jayalalithaa as the permanent general secretary. It is political insurance for the OPS-EPS duo to take all decisions in the name of Jayalalithaa, as it will help curb dissidence. Power will be vested in a steering committee with OPS and EPS to head the party. What will this mean for the AIADMK? The plan is to project OPS and EPS as the inheritors of the Jayalalithaa legacy and portray the Mannargudi clan as a group that was shown the door in the past by the former chief minister. In the revolving door culture of the AIADMK, EPS who was appointed as chief minister by Sasikala has now officially stabbed her in the back to join hands with friend-turned-foe-turned-friend OPS. Unsurprisingly, Dhinakaran is seeing red and has vowed to “send the government packing”. But can he? That is the question. While all resolutions passed by the general council will have to pass the legal scrutiny of the Madras High Court, the bigger challenge for Dhinakaran will be to carry out his threat. The DMK is likely to go to court this week asking for a floor test on the plea that technically, the EPS government is short of a majority by at least four MLAs. Dhinakaran’s future — and with it, the future of the Mannargudi family — will depend on whether he can together with MK Stalin, upset Palaniswami’s applecart. If they cannot, it will be political sunset at least in the immediate future for Dhinakaran.

The question is whether Dhinakaran, who claims to have the support of 21 lawmakers, can hold on to his strength. Many of the AIADMK legislators admit that chances of re-election are slim, given the dirty linen the party leaders have been washing in public all through 2017. So the urge to make the most of the next three-and-a-half years in power will be seen as a huge incentive.

Dhinakaran, it would seem, is also losing the perception battle. His aim to topple the EPS administration is being spoken of as a desire to overthrow “Amma’s government” and appoint a “Mannargudi regime”. Dhinakaran, over the past few weeks, has been focussed on controlling the party rather than the government. The two party organs, Jaya TV and Namadhu MGR are in the family’s control. But the united party will have a better chance of getting back the frozen two leaves symbol from the Election Commission. On Tuesday, Jaya TV kept airing visuals of Sasikala announcing Palaniswami as the chief minister at the Koovathur resort on 14 February, the day she was convicted by the Supreme Court in the Disproportionate Assets case and ordered to go to Bengaluru Jail. Sasikala calls OPS a ‘drohi’ (betrayer) even as EPS is seen falling at Sasikala’s feet, gratitude written all over his face. Tamil Nadu’s political theatre could not get more Shakespearean. Follow all the live updates here