Chennai: Despite DMK working president M.K. Stalin launching his party campaign for the RK Nagar bypoll on Tuesday, a low profile candidate and a low key campaign so far has left cadres wondering if the party is happy to let the AIADMK faction led by O. Panneerselvam to garner resentment against AIADMK (Amma) leader V.K. Sasikala.
Stalin had been repeatedly asserting that his party would capture power only through elections and only the fall of the AIADMK government could lead to Assembly elections. However, the AIADMK split is not vertical and the number of MLAs who had walked with Panneerselvam is no enough to bring down the government.
A DMK win will only exert pressure on the AIADMK camp, but it is unlikely to change the equations in the AIADMK general council or the party MLAs, political analysts opine.
Political commentator Badri Seshadri said “A DMK win will not affect the Sasikala faction. Its candidate T.T.V. Dinakaran will easily say that he had lost due to lack of 'two leaves'. He could easily blame Panneerselvam for the loss of symbol and continue the fight with the rival group.”
But, a win by the Panneerselvam-led AIADMK (Puratchithalaivi Amma) will be more beneficial to the DMK than a victory of the party itself, since such an outcome will boost the support to Panneerselvam among the party's general council and draw more MLAs to his side, which could trigger the fall of the government and lead to fresh Assembly elections, according to political observers.
The case against the nomination of Sasikala as the AIADMK general secretary is pending with the Election Commission and it will be taken up soon after the RK Nagar Assembly elections. Even if Sasikala's nomination is upheld, it is temporary and the AIADMK factions need to convene the general council to elect a general secretary.
At the moment, Panneerselvam faction is unable to dent Sasikala's support in the general council, but the situation could alter if Panneerselvam's group emerged victorious in RK Nagar.
Badri Seshadri said “If Panneerselvam's candidate E. Madhusudhanan wins the polls, it is clear signal that people have accepted Panneerselvam's party as the real AIADMK. I am sure that the party's MLAs themselves will see that staying in Sasikala's camp will be disastrous for their political future and the only option left for them is to shift to Panneerselvam's side”.
However, the DMK seems to be taking a risk since the party's strategy fo fielding a lesser known candidate could also be taken advantage of by AIADMK (Amma) candidate T.T.V. Dinakaran, whose victory could turn out to be huge set back and loss of face to Stalin's leadership.
