Hooked to Home Turf, EPS and OPS Give a Miss to Chennai

Gone are the days when a call from "Garden" - Poe's Garden residence of Jayalalithaa - was enough to send shivers down the spine of AIADMK functionaries. With her demise and the incarceration of VK Sasikala, Garden has lost its aura. Though the AIADMK HQ is in Chennai, it is no more a symbol of authority among the rank and file of the party, writes MC Rajan, Tamil Nadu Bureau Chief, ETV Bharat.

Chennai: Gone are the days when a call from "Garden" - Poe's Garden residence of Jayalalithaa - was enough to send shivers down the spine of AIADMK functionaries. With her demise and the incarceration of VK Sasikala, Garden has lost its aura. Though the AIADMK HQ is in Chennai, it is no more a symbol of authority among the rank and file of the party.

The dual leadership of Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and O Panneerselvam (OPS) have left Chennai orphaned as both are focused on keeping their fiefdom - their native districts - from slipping out of their hands. With MK Stalin having emerged as an overarching leader and firmly entrenched in Chennai, the duo continues to be local satraps unable to come out of their cocoon, ceding the political space in the state capital to the party's arch-rival, DMK.

Despite the AIADMK having its headquarters in Chennai, the city is no more the Centre preventing things from falling apart. Power and authority within the party have apparently shifted from here and it is very much discernible after the AIADMK was dethroned in the April 2021 assembly election. For, the diarchy of EPS and OPS have been holding durbar from their respective native districts, Salem and Theni, respectively as local satraps keen on keeping their hold on their home turf.

The power shift from Chennai became evident when the election results were out on May 2, when EPS was confined to his home town, Edappadi, and OPS camping in Theni. Loyalists of both the leaders, including their ministerial colleagues, were calling on them in turn. Now, the party headquarters in Chennai has been relegated as a place for occasional meetings. Even their official residences in the city are no more the venues of conclaves to chalk out strategies.

Even though Chennai has been a citadel of the DMK, right from the days of AIADMK founder MGR and Jayalalithaa, the city has occupied a pride of place for the party. Well, Jayalalithaa herself used to visit the party office not so frequently but her presence in the city provided a counter to the DMK. And unlike the present leadership, Jayalalithaa, with her aura and charisma, was confident of her support base across the state and AIADMK leaders were only competing in their servility till she was there. Now, they have to steer the ship with none to bank on.

The absence of the AIADMK in the city's political landscape is very conspicuous. Even former minister D Jayakumar, the face of the party here, has chosen to keep a low profile leaving the cadre in dismay. With EPS in Salem and OPS in Theni, the party clearly has ceded the political space to the DMK. Significantly, the DMK has won all the 21 seats in the city in the Assembly election.

As DMK president and Chief Minister has emerged as a leader in his own right, the AIADMK continues to struggle under the diarchy, which is also confronting a challenge to their leadership from Sasikala. While EPS, hailing from the dominant OBC Gounder community in western Tamil Nadu, is focusing on the region, OPS, belonging to the dominant Thevar community is concentrating on southern Tamil Nadu.

However, AIADMK spokesperson Sivasankari maintains that the party leadership had not abandoned Chennai. "Senior leaders are in the districts and this might give an impression that not much is happening and the party is not active enough. Former Minister Jayakumar and our frontline leaders are on the field be it providing corona relief or engaging with party workers. We now in the opposition and our leaders have to be in their constituencies to take up people's issues in this pandemic," she said, putting up a brave face.

Yet, the stark reality is for the AIADMK to find the political rhythm to galvanise the cadre and lower-rung functionaries providing direction and a sense of purpose. For this, functioning from the home turf may not be adequate. This is all the more important in the face of the onslaught from Sasikala and the civic elections which are round the corner.