The ruling AIADMK, battling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, is also hit by a debate over who should be the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate in the coming Assembly election, slated for April-May next year.
The debate was triggered by the observation of Cooperation Minister and Madurai city district secretary Sellur K. Raju on Monday that the issue of the next Chief Minister would be resolved at a meeting of the AIADMK legislature party [which would meet after the polls]. He was quick to add that both party coordinator O. Panneerselvam and co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister and Chief Minister respectively, were steering the affairs of the party well.
He recalled that in the 1967 Assembly election, DMK founder C.N.Annadurai became Chief Minister after he got elected as leader of the legislature party of the DMK. Even though AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran and his successor Jayalalithaa, while facing Assembly polls, did not declare themselves as Chief Ministerial candidates, it was the people who identified them as those who should occupy the post of CM.
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But on Tuesday, Dairy Development Minister K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji, also in-charge of the party’s Virudhunagar district unit, in a tweet, made it clear that Mr. Palaniswami was the Chief Ministerial candidate. “Let us face the fray after fixing the target. Let us project Edappadiar [Mr. Palanswami] and take the field. Let us strengthen the base! Let us work for success! 2021 is ours!”
Later, while speaking in a Tamil television channel, he maintained that his tweet was not in response to Mr. Raju’s observation. “Today, being Krishna Jayanthi, I posted the tweet. It is my view that it would be proper for the the party to face the election by projecting Edappadiar, who has been the lieutenant of Amma [Jayalalithaa] in carrying out welfare measures for the people.”
Two senior leaders of the party feel that the whole controversy is “unnecessary”. Both Mr. Raju and Mr. Rajenthira Bhalaji could have avoided making the point and the counterpoint. One of them says that even though the party elects its leader, its decision is guided by the direction of the party's leadership. Another points out that it would not reflect well on the party if the organisation does not project the sitting Chief Minister as the next CM.
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The party leadership, however, is said to have asked its spokespersons not to make any response to the debate.