AIADMK to name HQ after MGR on golden jubilee

Chennai

OPS and EPS in a joint statement announced that the party headquarters building in Royapettah will be named as MG Ramachandran Maaligai and declared a series of functions to felicitate the party old-timers and campaigners.

All eyes on Sasikala

Though the party has announced gala celebrations, there is discomfort within AIADMK, thanks to a humiliating defeat in just-concluded civic polls. On the other hand, all eyes are now on ousted AIADMK leader VK Sasikala and the grapevine is that the former aide of Jayalalithaa is planning to visit the memorials of the AIADMK leaders, thereby beginning a new political innings.

“The party, which was floated by legendary MGR in 1972 to take on its arch-rival DMK, is truly at its crossroads and the party had always been used to a single leadership. The concept of dual leadership is not going well for the AIADMK that had always had a strong leader,” said 65-year-old AIADMK worker H Mary, who joined the party after being inspired by MGR.

For the AIADMK women workers, the party is close to our hearts and opposing the DMK is part of our DNA, but of late the AIADMK leaders are showering praises on DMK leaders like MK Stalin and Duraimurugan which had not augured well among the followers of Amma (Jayalalithaa) and Thalaivar (MGR). Having a truck with DMK or going soft against the BJP is like killing the AIADMK, Mary rued. The need of the hour is a strong single leader, she argued. It can be OPS, Sasikala or EPS, but it has to be a single leadership, Mary emphasises reflecting the mood of a section of AIADMK cadre. “After being at the helm for two successive terms, the AIADMK is facing defeat after defeat. We lost Lok Sabha, Assembly and now the local body polls exposing both EPS and OPS. All the followers of Amma should unite together and Sasikala should be brought back into the party,” opined a Sasikala loyalist and former MLA in north Chennai.

Sasikala has been silent after a four-year jail term in connection with a disproportionate assets case and has plans to reclaim the AIADMK. But, to what extend she can shine is a million-dollar question, said political commentator R Mani. “Jayalalithaa mastered the art of opposing both the DMK in state and the BJP at Centre growing as a strong leader in national and state politics, but the current crop of AIADMK leadership is not critical against the BJP government and still there is a vacuum created by Jayalalithaa,” Mani said. Only if the AIADMK starts playing serious politics against the DMK and BJP, the party could regain its lost vote share and bounce back from poll defeat, he added.

“All eyes are on former AIADMK leader Sasikala and every AIADMK cadre is watching the developments. The cadre of AIADMK are still intact, it is only those with financial expectations jumping from one party to another. Once an MGR fan, they will die as an AIADMK worker,” Poonga Nagar Selvam, north Chennai MGR Mandram functionary said.

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