Chennai: Vehemently ruling out any alliance with the BJP in future, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said that he was meeting functionaries from all the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State to figure out where their party went wrong in the last elections and to take remedial measures ahead of the local body polls and the 2026 Assembly elections.
By personally listening to the functionaries from each of the constituencies to find out the flaws in the party system and the inadequacies in their approach to the elections, Palaniswami has endeared himself to the party workers besides keeping at bay the threat to his leadership from those he had thrown out of the party.
Not only he has been regularly attacking the DMK and even accused the government of failing to maintain law and order without giving room for the BJP o project itself as the prime opponent to the ruling party. he is seemingly unfazed by the machinations of ousted AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam to oust him.
Sasikala, who completed a tour of Tenkasi and Thoothukudi districts, where she addressed a series of meetings introducing herself as the AIADMK general secretary and also hoisting party flags in various places, is now planning her second political expedition possibly to two other southern districts with the hope of storming into the party either through a court order or with the help of some loyalists.
But Palaniswami, who ensured that none of the AIADMK members or functionaries attended any of the meetings addressed by Sasikala, has once again told his party workers to keep off such engagements, making it clear that both Sasikala and Panneerselvam were dismissed from the party by the general council and that they would not be re-admitted again.
It is learnt that Sasikala’s plan now is to manufacture a demand through some of her loyalists in the AIADMK for the convening of the General Council and then raise the issue of the recent electoral debacles in the forum. By blaming the leadership, particularly Palaniswami, for the repeated losses in the elections, they want to demand his stepping down from the leadership.
However, party insiders claim that it would not be that easy for the Sasikala camp to create an impression that Sasikala would be able to achieve what Palaniswami had failed as the General Council is filled with his supporters.
They point out that he had already silenced those who tried to argue in favour of a ‘unity’ in the party, which means bringing in Sasikala, Panneerselvam and T T V Dinakaran, by calling them traitors.
Yet the former expelled leaders of AIADMK are keen on bringing Palaniswami down by mobilizing party functionaries against him through the creation of a narrative that the party of MGR and J Jayalalithaa could be saved only through an efficient leader.
In this context, Palaniswami’s meetings with the wide range of functionaries in every Lok Sabha constituency have helped him regain the confidence of the party workers as he has been personally meeting them and motivating them to work harder for the party’s success.
On the contrary, though Sasikala manages to get small crowds at the places that she visits, she is unable to hold politically relevant conversations aimed at strengthening the AIADMK’s election machinery. She is said to be going to the villages and talking mainly to the women, who are supporters of the AIADMK, at a superficial level.
