Wracked by factional feuds, AIADMK has little time to get its act together

CHENNAI: The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) founded by Tamil tinsel world megastar and Bharat Ratna , late MG Ramachandran and carried forward by another matinee idol, the late J. Jayalalithaa and which ruled the state for the maximum terms is slowly but steadily losing the relevance it had.

Since the 2019 general elections where the DMK won 38 of the 39 seats in the state , the AIADMK has not been able to put up a credible performance in the subsequent polls. In the local body polls of 2020 and in the 2021 assembly polls, the AIADMK faced back to back drubbing.

The AIADMK also entered into a phase of group wars and power struggle leading to the expulsion of the former aide of Jayalalithaa, VK Sasikala and her nephew, TTV Dhinakaran. Sasikala in a bid to capture the party had even become the party's acting general secretary after the demise of Jayalalitha but a subsequent court verdict put her behind the bars in Bengaluru and when she arrived back to Chennai after four years, the party was firmly in the grip of Edappadi K Palaniswami ( EPS) and O. Panneerselvam (OPS). Both of them were regulars at Poes Gardens , the official residence of Jayalalitha and where Shashikala used to run things. In a way both EPS and OPS could well be described as ardent followers of Sasikala.

After her return from jail, Sasikala tried to take over the party but was met with stiff resistance and she had to satisfy herself by occasional statements and some roadshows which did not matter much as the party machinery was wholly taken over by EPS and OPS.

Sasikala‘s nephew TTV Dhinakaran, who was also expelled from the AIADMK, floated a new political outfit Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK ) which dented the vote bank of the AIADMK.

Meanwhile a power struggle was raging in the AIADMK between OPS and EPS and in the end, OPS -- the powerful Thevar leader from Theni in South Tamil Nadu -- was expelled from the party. While OPS still claims to be the coordinator of the AIADMK , the party is firmly under the control of EPS and the court orders also came against OPS.

In the 2019 general elections and the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly elections , the AIADMK had a political alliance with the BJP and the elections were fought together as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

While the BJP gained in the 2021 assembly elections with the party winning four assembly seats, there was not much political advantage for the AIADMK. With the advent of K. Annamalai as the BJP state president, the relationship between the AIADMK and the BJP turned from bad to worse. Annamalai was outspoken against even Jayalalithaa and it reached a breaking point when he spoke against CN Annadurai widely respected as the pillar of Dravidian politics. This led to the AIADMK finally reaching a point of snapping ties with the BJP.

In fact the AIADMK is at an advantage after snapping ties with the BJP as the minority communities including Muslims and Christians have an option to vote for as an alternative to the DMK. In several seats of Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK can get enough minority votes after it snapped ties with the BJP.

While the DMK led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is still far ahead of the AIADMK given the recent internal bickering in the party, snapping ties with the BJP has given a semblance of hope to the principal opposition party in the ensuing general elections which would otherwise have been a washout.