The election of former Chief Ministers, O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami, as coordinator and co-coordinator of the AIADMK has paved the way for the organisation to function in a more coordinated manner than in the past, according to a cross section of office-bearers,
“This has demonstrated how united the party is from top to bottom,” said D. Jayakumar, organisation secretary and former Fisheries Minister. “Many people had predicted that the party would disintegrate after the demise of Amma [Jayalalithaa]. We are alive and kicking. Not just that. The latest event has shown that there is no end to the party, which will continue to flourish,” contended Mr. Jayakumar.
Asked whether the election meant the continuation of the “dual leadership” system in the party, K. P.Munusamy, deputy coordinator of the party, said the organisation had established a system and the poll was held based on the system.
“As was done for the post of general secretary when Amma was alive, we had got the two incumbents elected,” he explained.
Another veteran, speaking on the condition of anonymity, felt the election had ensured the elimination of the possibility of former interim general secretary V,K. Sasikala getting back into the party as ‘general secretary’, the position being claimed by her. He expressed the hope that hereafter, the slogan of “single leadership” would not be raised by a section of cadres.
R.Thangathurai, a long-standing observer of the party, said the system of dual leadership was an “innovation” as no other party would have experimented with it. This was different from what Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had as the former looked after the affairs of the Congress party and the latter was “in charge” of the government. The election had ensured the continuance of the system at least for another five years.
However, G. Palanithurai, veteran academician, viewed the development differently and said the two leaders were carrying on together as otherwise they would lose the strength of the party workers, who were “oriented to the loyalty of leaders [Jayalalithaa and M.G. Ramachandran] and symbol [“two leaves”] and the politics of antagonism towards DMK and its leader, M. Karunanidhi”. Under such circumstances, the system of “dual leadership” would not work in the long run and the workers were waiting for “a strong leader”.
Meanwhile, before leaving for Madurai, Mr. Panneerselvam told reporters that the organisational elections had begun as per the party’s rules, and in the first phase, the poll for the posts of coordinator and co-coordinator had been held “in accordance with the rules and dharma”. Asked how the party would respond to any court’s order, he replied that “generally, I respect the verdict of the court”.
