R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, SEPT 23
In the absence of charismatic leadership after the death of AIADMK’s iron lady and former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, the party may face a tough challenge from its arch-rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the 2021 assembly election.
The ruling BJP at the centre, claiming to be the world’s largest party, is making all-out efforts to take advantage of the absence of Jayalalithaa in the 2021 election, and to fulfill its ambition of blooming in Tamil Nadu, the party has to face the DMK-led by its President M.K. Stalin which has a strong foothold in the state. To ensure the party’s foothold in the state, the BJP wants to kill two birds with one stone – one is to keep the AIADMK flocks together under its control and at the same time, defeating the strong DMK. With this aim, the party has brokered the merger of factions in AIADMK led by ‘Chinnamma’ VK Sasikala, the aide of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who is expected to be released soon after the punishment in the disproportionate asset case.
Sasikala’s close relative and AMMK leader who won the Assembly seat with a huge margin in RK Nagar constituency, which became vacant after the death of Jayalalithaa, airdashed to New Delhi in a chartered flight from Chennai two days ago, raising eyebrows of many in the political circles in Tamil Nadu.
Rumours agog in the political circles in Tamilnadu that he had gone to the top leadership of BJP to discuss the possible merger of Sasikala-led faction with AIADMK led by Coordinator O Panneerselvam and Cocordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami.
The top leadership of BJP has given a clear sketch to TTV Dinakaran so that AIADMK remains in power in the state with the merged factions defeating the DMK. If the BJP brokered merger of AIADMK factions becomes fruitful, they (BJP) will facilitate the earliest release of VK Sasikala, as the party needs an unquestionable and strong leadership, a confidential source in the AIADMK said. TTV Dinakaran returned on the same night on the special flight. It is expected that Dinakaran will discuss the merger plan with Sasikala before the end of this week and apprise the BJP leadership at New Delhi.
On condition of anonymity, a senior AIADMK minister said the above division of powers would be agreeable to most party members, and that the BJP central leadership had been pressing for a merger for more than a year now. “The BJP succeeded in its mission to ensure that there was no unquestionable leader in the party after Amma’s (Jayalalithaa’s) death… The Sasikala camp might be obliged to take up this offer to ensure there are no hurdles in her exit from prison. Edappadi too can hope to gain lost ground with the help of Sasikala. As everyone has an interest in it, this merger is likely to materialise,” the minister added.
Justifying their decision to reach out to Sasikala, a senior state BJP leader said, “Of course, the AIADMK needs to unite and fight the DMK. Sasikala served her punishment, she is no more untouchable.”
The AIADMK and BJP had also hinted at Sasikala’s hand in the death of Jayalalithaa. The seniorAIADMK minister said they didn’t expect that to be a hurdle either.
“There were formal investigations into Amma’s death.” The minister admitted that the BJP with its sheen of a meddling Delhi party, always a disadvantage in Tamil Nadu, could prove a liability for the AIADMK in the polls.
Hence, the added need for the party to get the AMMK on its side. Dhinakaran has his compulsions too. While he had defeated the AIADMK candidate by a huge margin in the bypolls for the R K Nagar seat held by Jayalalithaa, and continued to be a crowd-puller across the state, he is facing a bribery probe by the Delhi Police and another by the Enforcement Directorate.
AMMK treasurer and Sasikala loyalist P Vetrivel said a merger was possible “ if the party leadership was returned to safe hands again”.
“The AIADMK is totally broken, only leaders like Chinnamma (Sasikala) and Dhinakaran can revive the party… There is no question of talks without these conditions being met,” Vetrivel said.
