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Journalism of Courage
Edappadi K Palaniswami has won another battle to emerge as the single, supreme leader of the AIADMK, with the Supreme Court Thursday upholding a Madras High Court order allowing him to continue as interim general secretary of the party.
The Supreme Court dismissed the petitions filed by O Panneerselvam, while upholding a High Court order of September 2, 2022, on amendments made to party bylaws during a meeting that elected Palaniswami, or EPS as he is known, as its single leader while expelling rival Panneerselvam (OPS) and some of his aides.
OPS, 72, who has been fighting for control of the AIADMK since J Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016, is unlikely to see it as the end of the road though. He had gone to the High Court after the party meeting despite the comprehensive defeat in the party meeting, at the end of which OPS tally stood at three MLAs, with the rest of the 63 MLAs, most district secretaries and more than 2,200 General Council members backing EPS for the general secretary post, earlier occupied by M G Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa, and V K Sasikala.
This changed the compromise reached after Jayalalithaa’s death, as part of which OPS served as coordinator and EPS, 68, as joint coordinator of the AIADMK. While OPS then too was believed to have only 11-odd MLAs behind him, he was propped up by the BJP, which had nosed its way into the party still reeling from Jayalalithaa’s death. Accordingly, OPS had secured the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
As the CM, EPS, meanwhile, went from strength to strength, won the party to his side and managed to keep Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s confidant, at bay. He was seen as a capable CM and administrator, a reputation that has helped sustain him even after the 2021 Assembly poll defeat to the DMK.
OPS, in contrast, could never shake off his association with the BJP, which has hurt him hard as the DMK rode and continues to play up public sentiments against an overbearing Centre led by the BJP. He was also seen as close to RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy, and later Sasikala.
Gurumurthy once claimed that it was on his advice that OPS initially rebelled against Sasikala, and that he had also told OPS to visit Jayalalithaa’s samadhi for “inspiration”.
Even Sasikala, who still wields considerable clout within the AIADMK – a reason EPS has kept her away – may keep her distance from OPS as she is wary of entering a bruising battle to capture the AIADMK. “Neither is OPS leader material who can launch a new party, nor does he command respect or has bargaining powers with anyone,” a former AIADMK MP said, while listing his “squandered” qualities like being soft-spoken, humble and polite.
It were these attributes that once fuelled OPS’s rise in the party. He first came into the AIADMK limelight through his association with the Sasikala family. In the 1990s, OPS got to know them when Sasikala’s nephew T T V Dhinakaran contested from Periyakulam, OPS’s native town where he was the municipal chairman.
In 2001, by when OPS was an MLA, Jayalalithaa picked him out of the blue to warm her chair as she stepped down as CM in wake of the TANSI case. It was OPS again who was her choice in 2014 after conviction in the disproportionate assets case. Jayalalithaa complimented him at the time calling him a “unique breed in politics” for returning the baton always without a fight.
OPS humbly responded that he considered opportunities such as becoming CM “bonuses” in his life.
OPS was in the chair when Jayalalithaa died in December 2016 following a long hospitalisation. His rebellion against Sasikala, then interim general secretary, cost him his post. Sasikala replaced him with another loyalist, EPS.
By mid-2017, the two men came together to oust Sasikala, whose sentencing on corruption charges also took her out of the picture.
While EPS was not as well-known as OPS, especially outside Tamil Nadu, he proved a dark horse. A politician from Western Tamil Nadu, his skills bettered OPS’s when it came to handling the party, mobilising resources during rallies, and fighting elections. A god-fearing man, he is seen as good with people.
A senior leader from the EPS camp said that while he might be a man of few words, he had proved his mettle. Underlining the difference between the two, he said: “EPS is not subservient. Unlike OPS, he talks to the BJP, doesn’t go to them for ‘advice’. He wants to restore the AIADMK so that it can go it alone in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls if required.”
Recently, EPS had scored another win when the BJP convinced OPS to step back and not field a candidate for the Erode bypoll. EPS’s candidate is the sole AIADMK nominee now.
