While V.K. Sasikala has emerged as an acceptable successor to late AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa with little resistance from within the party’s senior ranks, her real test, observers, say will come only at the hustings.
On Tuesday too, AIADMK MPs led by Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha M. Thambidurai met her at Poes Garden and expressed their solidarity with her.
“The real verdict on her leadership will be known only during an election. Fortunately, for the party, elections to the Assembly are four years away and they need not worry about the voters,” says Prof. Ramu Manivannan of the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Madras. He feels the current developments in the party have been stage-managed because second line leaders want to hold on to power.
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Elections to the local body elections early next year will pose some challenge to her leadership, though a majority of the voters could be wary of electing an opposition party in the civil polls.
A.R. Venkatachalapathy, Professor of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, argues that dissent against Sasikala may not be wide among the party cadres. United by their hatred for the DMK, the AIADMK cadre, for all their reservation about the leadership of Ms Sasikala, would come around and support her.
“Whether the voters will prefer her leadership is the moot point and it can be judged only after the elections,” he points out.
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