AIADMK’s seesaw game set to resume

Chennai: The seesaw game in the AIADMK is likely to resume soon as the side that is now down, the one led by O Panneerselvam, has approached the Supreme Court to appeal against the order of the Division Bench of the Madras High Court that gave the last ruling in favour of the Edappadi K Palaniswami group, approving the election of the interim general secretary.

Panneerselvam, who is in Chennai, held talks with his supporters and is said to have told them to organize a massive ‘AIADMK Conference’ kind of jamboree as a show of strength to send across the message that they had a greater follower base than the rival Palaniswami group that holds protests attracting huge crowds.

Even as the group that wants status quo ante in the AIADMK organizational set up as on July 11 and provide for the continuation of Panneerselvam as the coordinator and treasurer of the party awaits the outcome of the appeal in the Supreme Court, it is planning for the jamboree in Chennai or Kanchipuram to keep its cadre base intact.

Though it was the Supreme Court that had sent back the case to the High Court saying that it was an internal party affair that should be sorted out by them, they have appealed against the Division Bench order, which at best would only prolong the fight. Earlier, a single judge had ruled in favour of Panneerselvam on August 17, saying that status quo ante should be maintained.

Soon after that judgment was out, Panneerselvam extended the olive branch to Palaniswami and offered to work together. But the Palaniswami camp was adamant in its stand to keep Panneerselvam out of the party and vowed to fight it out legally which they did and obtained the order on September 2, against which the appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court.

Even after Panneerselvam told the media that they had gone on appeal against the September 2 order, leaders of the Palaniswami group refused to mellow down. Prominent leader and former Minister D Jayakumar came down heavily on Panneerselvam and his son Ravindranth Kumar for praising Chief Minister M K Stalin for the ‘Pudhumai Penn’ (Modern Woman) programme.

Panneerselvam and Ravindranth, when asked by the media about the programme that was launched on Monday, had said that they appreciated the Chief Minister for helping poor women students with a monthly assistance of Rs 100 for pursuing higher education.

Reacting to that, Jayakumar said that both son and father could have gone and joined the DMK together rather than standing out and applauding at them. He said that the father and son did not point out that the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar scheme to give gold for women getting married, which was launched by J Jayalalithaa, had been done away with to start the new Pudhumai Penn scheme.

So, as the animosity between top leaders of the two factions continued, the cadre at the grassroots level are a bit perplexed as legal victories alternate between the groups, though functionaries having positions in the party were mostly behind Palaniswami.

Most of the General Council members continued to support Palaniswami, which is an advantage for him. Arguing for Palaniswami before the Division bench of the Madras High Court in the last legal battle, the counsels had said that the general council was the supreme body in a political party and secured a verdict in their favour.