Poster war hots up in AIADMK ahead of crucial legislators meet

Turf war in the AIADMK has spilt over to the streets and the diarchy in the party has come under strain. Down but not out, former Deputy Chief Minister and AIADMK Coordinator O Panneerselvam is still smarting at his marginalisation. Now, supporters of former Chief Minister and party Co-Coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and OPS are engaged in a poster war in the southern Tirunelveli city.

Chennai: A day after supporters of O. Panneerselvam (OPS) put up posters condemning his marginalization in the decision making process of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), loyalists of Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) countered it with a poster campaign on Thursday, eulogising him as the leader par excellence and thanking party MLAs for his election as the AIADMK Legislature Party leader. Ever since the assembly election results were out, both OPS and EPS have been at daggers drawn. In the first round of the battle for the Legislature Party leadership, EPS outsmarted OPS, leaving the latter sulking.

At a time when late AIADMK supremo's confidant VK Sasikala is apparently making concerted attempts for re-entry into the party, the poster war has baffled the rank and file. Also, this comes ahead of the AIADMK legislators meeting on Monday to decide on the party Whip in the House among other things and the first session of the newly elected assembly, slated for June 21.

When the OPS camp came up with the posters in Tirunelveli, it was believed that the dominant OBC Thevar community of the region is unhappy at the party's drift towards Western Tamil Nadu, the bastion of another dominant OBC community, the Goundars, to which EPS belongs to. Since a lion's share of the 66 AIADMK legislators are from the West had helped EPS to secure the post of Legislature Party leader. And it is his writ that runs in the party with OPS remaining a mere titular head.

The posters put up by OPS supporters read that he was the one chosen and identified by Jayalalithaa and his marginalisation in the run-up to the Assembly poll had cost the party dearly. Further, it warned that if he is sidelined any further, they would lay siege to the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai. However, to pooh-pooh the notion that EPS doesn't have a base in the south, his loyalists have carried out the poster campaign with their photographs.

If anything, the poster war has once again reiterated that the battle between the diarchy is there to stay. While the brief meeting between the two at a luxury hotel remains inconclusive on the truce, the duo are shooting off letters either to the state Chief Minister MK Stalin or to Prime Minister in separate letter heads with both addressing themselves as former CM, which is a fact as well.
OPS has been the CM, thrice and EPS, once. OPS uses his the party address and his party post while the other uses the Secretariat address and his Leader of the Opposition (LoP) post, which is a rarity unless the LoP is also the patriarch.