Centre, DMK govt keep pot boiling on AIADMK leadership tussle

Chief Electoral Officer sends letter to both EPS and OPS, as coordinator, joint coordinator, posts eliminated by party to anoint EPS as sole leader

Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, also a Principal Secretary in the Tamil Nadu government, Thursday sent a letter to the AIADMK for demonstration of the newly-announced Remote Electronic Voting Machines (RVMs) on January 16. (File)

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Even though a Madras High Court judgment in September recognised Edappadi K Palaniswami, popularly known as EPS, as the interim general secretary of the AIADMK following the unequivocal support he got for the post within the party, his wait to get recognised by all governmental agencies has got longer.

Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, also a Principal Secretary in the Tamil Nadu government, Thursday sent a letter to the AIADMK for demonstration of the newly-announced Remote Electronic Voting Machines (RVMs) on January 16. The letter invited not only EPS but also deposed rebel leader O Panneerselvam, known as OPS, for the meeting in New Delhi.

It also addressed OPS and EPS as coordinator and joint coordinator of the AIADMK, respectively – the positions they held until their termination at a general council meeting held on July 11.

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At the party general council, EPS was declared the “single supreme leader” of the party, following which OPS was expelled. The EPS camp enjoys the support of almost all the 2,500 members of the general council, including the state and district leadership.

The dispute was subsequently dragged into court. In September, a Division Bench of the Madras High Court issued an order in favour of EPS, establishing his position as the sole leader. The Bench quashed an August 17 order of a single judge of the same court, which said the status-quo of dual leadership must be maintained. OPS has since filed a petition on the matter in the Supreme Court.

In September, an AIADMK delegation visited the Election Commission (EC) demanding acceptance of the single leadership of EPS.

The latest communication, however, shows that EPS will have to wait longer for recognition from agencies such as the EC. EPS will also have to tread carefully as both the BJP at the Centre and the DMK are said to be in touch with OPS for various reasons.

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As its ally, the BJP would want the AIADMK to unite before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to include other ousted leaders such as V K Sasikala and T T V Dhinakaran. The DMK, on the other hand, is seen as favouring OPS so as to weaken the AIADMK.

OPS’s son, O P Ravindranath, the sole Lok Sabha AIADMK MP, was recently criticised by party leaders for praising the DMK reign, and “congratulating” Chief Minister MK Stalin. Hitting out at Ravindranath, the EPS camp had advised the father-son duo “to go and join the DMK”.

Earlier too, when a scuffle had broken out at the AIADMK headquarters at the general council meeting on July 11, allegedly led by OPS followers, the EPS camp had accused the state police of facilitating the same by failing to stop the mob that had entered the party office.

However, before Sahoo’s letter, a December 23 letter from Ritu Raj Awasthi, the Chairman of the Law Commission of India, had addressed EPS as the party general secretary. Another communication from Delhi this month, an invitation for a G20 preparatory meeting, from Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, too had addressed EPS as general secretary, AIADMK.

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OPS had registered his protest saying Joshi should not have done so when the matter was pending in court.