![]() ![]() ![]() “The Supreme Court’s verdict has further weakened his political future, though he can still go for an appeal. He held the office for the third time in 2016 when Jayalalithaa fell sick and died.Ī senior political analyst-cum-journalist, Ilangovan Rajasekaran, told India Today that Paneerselvam’s excessive dependence on the BJP had dismembered him as a leader of the party. Again in 2014, he held the post when Jayalalithaa was convicted in the disproportionate wealth case. Jayalalithaa trusted him totally that she chose him as interim chief minister when she had to resign in the wake of the TANSI case in 2001. ![]() Since then he earned a meritorious elevation in the rank and file of the party.ĪLSO READ | AIADMK to contest Erode bypolls amid EPS-OPS rivalry As the chairman of Periyakuppam Municipal Town in Theni district in the late 90s, he got associated with Sasikala when Dhinakaran contested from the Periyakulam Lok Sabha constituency. He was considered the most ‘trusted loyalist’ of Jayalalithaa. Panneerselvam’s rise in the party was simple and straight-jacketed. The party knew well that there was a palpable anti-BJP sentiment prevailing in the state. The think tank of the AIADMK strongly believes that the successive defeats of the party in the Parliament, Assembly and local body polls were the result of its alliance with the BJP. The BJP’s influence in the party’s internal affairs has not gone down well with some functionaries. But Palaniswamy, understanding the pulse of the cadres and the people, has been maintaining a safe distance from the BJP, without compromising the party’s integrity and identity. And too much reliance on the BJP, which dictated terms with him, did not go well with the functionaries.Īt a time when the DMK has been attempting to showcase the BJP as ‘anti-Tamil’, the Union government as 'anti-Tamil Nadu’, and the AIADMK as ‘slave’, Panneerselvam’s closeness with the saffron party is frowned upon by cadres and functionaries. Panneerselvam, though was the Deputy Chief Minister and the AIADMK coordinator, could not match his colleague’s deft political maneuvers and manipulations. Palaniswami’s four-year tenure as the chief minister had gradually brought the entire party machinery under his control with almost all frontline leaders, MLAs, MPs and district secretaries, mainly as beneficiaries of the power, subscribing to his sole leadership. Palaniswami, however, has emerged as the winner in the battle for leadership.ĪLSO READ | The imploding AIADMK, the rise of EPS and the future of Tamil Nadu | OPINION As expected, it eventually led to the call for having a single leadership in the party. The rift had widened thus affecting the routine party affairs. The ‘double engine’ formula to run a party did not go down well with the party functionaries. At that point in time, both joined together to oust Sasikala.īut after they lost the 2021 Assembly polls to the DMK, the fragile camaraderie between the two AIADMK top guns broke down. It was accepted that Palaniswami would hold the chief ministerial post while Panneerselvam the post of Deputy CM. In fact with Sasikala in jail and her nephew T T V Dhinakaran running a separate political outfit christened Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), a temporary truce was brokered between Palaniswami and Panneerselvam, since the party was in power from 2016 to 2021. He also cleverly sidelined OPS from the reckoning of taking over the party leadership. Sasikala’s move to appoint Palaniswami as the chief minister backfired on her because the latter disowned her when she returned from prison. ![]()
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