Murmurs in the AIADMK over ‘one person-one post’ issue

Although deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam supports the ‘one person-one post’ formula, the team led by chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami is controlling both the government and the party, allege senior leaders.

According to a former minister and a sitting MLA from Erode district, internal dissent is at an all-time high with the old-timers completely upset over the way the partyis being run.

“Several key posts are held by ministers and district secretaries. Local bodies are vacant, and this means more than 12,000 posts are vacant without any party representation,” he fumed.

“Even last week about 200 cadre including panchayat level functionaries joined the AMMK. Though Karur strong man Senthil Balaji left TTV Dhinakaran, he chose the DMK over us. The problem is that the cadre base is getting eroded due to political changes within the AIADMK,” the MLA said.

Party insiders claim that the ministers are focussed only on governance. As a result, party administration is not efficient when compared to previous leaders MGR and Jayalalithaa.

Stating that party old-timers are unhappy, Poonga Nagar Selvam, a AIADMK MGR Mandram functionary, cited the example of former mayor Saidai S Duraisamy and former MLA J C D Prabhakar in Chennai. “They are maintaining a low profile. This is not good for the party,” he said.

When contacted, party presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan evaded most of the queries related to the ministers but admitted that there are in-house issues.

“Every party has internal problems, so is the case with the AIADMK. A party should always recall the sacrifices made by the old-timers and cadre. In my opinion, there must be an immediate meeting of all party wings and the cadre should be invited for a discussion.”

“Further, this meeting should be extended to gram panchayats, municipal limits and districts. Ward, zonal and district secretary level meetings should also be conducted as the polls are nearing,” Madhusudhanan added.