'Unitary leadership' likely to take centre stage at AIADMK June 23 General Council meet

Buoyed by the support for it within the AIADMK, the faction led by Edappadi K Palaniswami decided on Monday to go ahead with the crucial General Council (GC) meeting of the party on June 23. The decision to go as per the schedule comes after a request by O Panneerselvam’s camp to postpone the meeting was rejected. The GC meeting is crucial as a resolution on “unitary leadership” is likely to be introduced, which is advantageous to Palaniswami (EPS).

The demand by Panneerselvam (OPS) camp—made in a letter to Palaniswami—to postpone the GC meeting on the pretext of avoiding any “law and order issues” is seen as a desperate attempt to delay the introduction of the resolution, after the OPS camp realised they didn’t have enough support within the party.

“The General Council will be held on June 23, as scheduled. There is no change. O Panneerselvam will participate in the meeting. As far as resolutions are concerned, we can’t comment,” AIADMK’s deputy coordinator K P Munusamy told reporters. He also claimed the party did not receive any letter by OPS on postponement of the GC meeting.

Introduction of a resolution to revert to “unitary leadership”—like in the times of M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa—is likely to result in Palaniswami, the joint coordinator, taking over as the General Secretary, a post that was reserved for the late Jayalalithaa since 2017.

Panneerselvam, who is the coordinator, is opposed to any move replacing the “dual leadership” on the ground that he was elected to the post by primary members of the party. Though he has no support base among the MLAs or in the General Council—which is about 2,500 members strong—OPS, according to his supporters, feels he cannot be “removed” by an “individual or his lieutenants” just because they have a majority.

“AIADMK does not belong to any individual. OPS is very clear that he will not cede the space to anyone (read EPS) this time. He feels the General Council cannot remove him as he was elected by the primary members. He seems to be very stubborn,” a close aide of Panneerselvam told DH.

In the letter to Palaniswami, the OPS camp contended that the GC meeting should be postponed and held with special invitees, who are not members of the council. However, the EPS camp rejected the demand.

Though the EPS camp has enough support among district secretaries, legislators and GC members, sources said they are still trying to convince OPS to agree to the proposal to avoid any confrontation at the meeting.

“We want a smooth transition and that is the reason we have been continuously talking to Panneerselvam. We don’t want the party to undergo another crisis and we want OPS to propose EPS’ name for the unitary leadership,” a leader from the EPS camp told DH.

The EPS faction is believed to be worried about the rival camp taking the issue to the court or the Election Commission even though Panneerselvam does not enjoy majority. They say any case challenging the party’s GC decision will generate wide publicity and it will not augur well for the AIADMK.

The EPS faction believes his being at the top will help the party “counter” the ruling DMK in an “efficient way” and also challenge the BJP which is projecting itself as the principal Opposition party. It was EPS’ aides who broached the “unitary leadership” at a meeting on June 14 which was convened to discuss the general council meeting.

For OPS, this is a crucial battle as ceding the only “powerful” position he holds in the party to EPS—who has consolidated his position in the AIADMK—would only mean that he would be pushed into political oblivion. While OPS seems to be “asserting himself” this time, the majority of the party MLAs are with EPS.

OPS, who lost his support base slowly to EPS, was hoping for Sasikala, the woman against whom he rebelled, to take over the party but she received little support.

Palaniswami, hand-picked by Sasikala as Chief Minister in 2017 before she went to serve her four-year term in a disproportionate assets case, had stonewalled BJP's proposal to induct her into the party or alliance before the 2021 assembly polls, maintaining that the “core vote bank” of the AIADMK stays with the party and not the splinter group.