While AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam last month thwarted an attempt to have a unitary leadership in the party — that sole leader whose writ runs, the chief — he will likely have to yield next Monday. His rival and deputy coordinator, E Palaniswami or EPS, who has the backing of the majority of party leaders, sits pretty to be elected the party chief on July 11. The general council meeting on July 11 will be the AIADMK’s second attempt to discard its dual leadership mode of functioning, which has been in effect ever since the OPS and EPS camps buried the hatchet in 2017. On June 23, hours before a scheduled meeting where EPS would have been elected the party chief, OPS managed to secure a stay from the High Court’s division bench. The early morning order — it was issued at 4.30 am — however failed to offer much reprieve to OPS. Hours later, the AIADMK General Council meeting was held where all but 3 of the party’s 66 MLAs rallied behind EPS, announcing the “one and only” demand of the Council was to bring in a single-leadership system for the party – or make EPS the AIADMK chief. The meeting also set the date for the next meeting when the EPS’s coronation of sorts would be held — July 11. Until then, EPS would be the administrative chairman. Cornered and humiliated, OPS tried to stay the July 11 meeting as well. But the High Court on Monday clarified its June 23 stay applied only to the party meeting scheduled for that day and not the next. This means that with over 90 per cent of the party backing EPS, including about 70 of the 75 district secretaries and almost all MLAs, it is OPS attempts that stand thwarted instead. And, for now, EPS prevails. As of now, OPS has exhausted all his options, according to a senior AIADMK leader. He said: “Finally, he sought to play a community card, claiming that the whole Thevar community is furious about EPS. None of this could beat EPS because the support he gained now is out of goodwill and from leaders coming from all communities, not just his own Gounder community.” The party leader cited above said all significant Thevar leaders, which include former ministers, are now supporting EPS. OPS is an exception, he added. Even former AIADMK minister Mafoi Pandiarajan, who supported OPS in the 2017 revolt, has now joined the EPS side. Pandiarajan told The Indian Express he does not regret supporting OPS then, “But right now, a unified leadership is required to combat the DMK's crimes”. “I would argue that EPS currently has the support of 99 per cent of the party. Only those opposed to the AIADMK would resist the unitary leadership,” he said. Sources in BJP too said the party isn’t helping OPS “this time” despite the fact, he added, that the AIADMK leader had drawn “inspiration for the 2017 from an RSS ideologue in Chennai”. “He may not have many options but to surrender or wait for reconciliation,” the BJP leader said. Isolated, OPS cannot even hope to draw support from ousted leaders V K Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran. Commenting on the recent activities, they seem to neither support OPS nor outrightly attack EPS. While Sasikala sounded in agreement with the idea of unitary leadership, she opposed the manner it is being implemented in favour of EPS. “There is no doubt that the AIADMK needs unitary leadership. However, the leadership should be created in such a manner that it accommodates every party worker, and it should be elected by party workers, who are the ones who raise the party flag high,” she said. Political observers rule out the possibility of Sasikala's return too. Pandiarajan, who was close to both OPS and Sasikala, has said that Sasikala's return is quite improbable. OPS and Sasikala cannot work together, he said. "How is it even conceivable? When the party problem began, it was OPS who spearheaded a mutiny against her. How will OPS now support Sasikala?"
