The fact that Ravi and Annamalai first met EPS and then OPS was seen as a message that the BJP acknowledges the primacy of EPS in the AIADMK’s organisational set up. On 23 June, the day OPS was booed and humiliated by EPS supporter at the AIADMK’s general council meeting, BJP general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu, CT Ravi, and state BJP president K Annamalai called on EPS and OPS separately to seek support for NDA’s presidential nominee, Draupadi Murmu.
OPS had said that it was only at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he agreed to merge his faction with EPS’ in August 2017 and join the government as deputy CM. It was BJP that was instrumental in uniting the AIADMK after Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016.
While Panneerselvam is actively courting the BJP, the latter isn’t inclined to upset EPS who looks set to get AIADMK’s reins. EPS-OPS power tussle can, therefore, have serious implications for the AIADMK, which is struggling in the absence of a charismatic leader.Īlso read: EPS one step up in AIADMK power battle, receives ‘crown’ as OPS booed out of council meetingĪmid all this drama in the Dravidian party, its ally, Bharatiya Janata Party, seems to be doing a tightrope walk. If at all, they are seen as leaders of Gounders and Thevars, the two communities that form the backbone of AIADMK. Neither EPS nor OPS has any fan following. MGR and Jayalalithaa had succeeded in their ventures because they were popular cine stars with legions of fans. Incidentally, in the 1989 assembly election whose results settled the succession battle in the AIADMK, the Jayalalithaa faction had accused Janaki of being soft towards Karunanidhi EPS faction is accusing OPS of the same today. Jayalalithaa did against Janaki Ramachandran, MGR’s widow. OPS is left with two options - form a new party as MGR had done or fight it out to gain control of the party as J. Karunanidhi, then CM and DMK president, had suspended MGR, a young man from Udumalpet set himself on fire.įifty years later, when EPS is seeking to get rid of OPS, few are shedding tears for the latter. When MG Ramachandran had broken away from the DMK and founded Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (which later became AIADMK) on 17 October 1972, he was a matinee idol. In either case, the crisis in the AIADMK isn’t going to blow over any time soon. OPS must accept EPS’ leadership in the AIADMK or find his place in the sun outside. The latter can only hope to delay the inevitable through judicial interventions but the die is cast. Former chief minister EK Palaniswami is set to take control of the party, sidestepping his former deputy, O Panneerselvam. Tamil Nadu’s principal opposition party, AIADMK, looks headed for a split in its golden jubilee year.
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