Refusing to cede political space to AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS), ousted party leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) on Monday sent his representative for an all-party meeting with the state election commission, where the two sides are expected to lock horns over the party’s two-leaves election symbol.
The Madras high court has recognised EPS as the party’s leader. For now, the control of the party’s property, flag, symbol and name seems to be with EPS, but AIADMK has faced such factional crisis in the past.
The property, housing the AIADMK’s headquarters in the heart of Chennai’s Royapettah which has been the latest centre of controversy is a property gifted by party founder MG Ramachandran’s (MGR) wife R Janaki in the 1980s. In July, government officials re-opened the party headquarters 10 days after locking and sealing it due to a violent clash between supporters of EPS and OPS.
Interestingly, the AIADMK office was sealed similarly before during the factional split between Janaki and J Jayalalithaa following MGR’s death in 1987. Jayalalithaa eventually got control of the party and the headquarters.
While the Madras high court recognised that EPS had the right to possess the party headquarters in its July 20 order, it also restrained party cadres from entering the premises for a month. The AIADMK headquarters in Royapettah was sealed on June 11. On the same day, the AIADMK’s general council expelled OPS from the primary membership and as treasurer for working against the party and crowded EPS as their interim general secretary.
The next contentious issue according to political analysts is who would have the right to use the iconic two-leaves symbol. “OPS is left with barely any options. At best, he can get the two-leaves symbol frozen and continue to battle it out in courts,” said political analyst Maalan Narayanan.
MGR had handpicked actor-comedian P Pandurangan to design a symbol and the flag for his new party after he split from the DMK in 1972. In Tamil Nadu, where there are more rural voters than in urban areas, people would say that they either vote for “rettai elai” (two leaves) or the “udhaikum suriyan” (rising sun belonging to the DMK).
“When people think of two-leaves, they associate that with MGR’s legacy. So, whoever wins the two-leaves is considered legitimate and currently EPS has that direct link of continuity to MGR’s support base,” said an AIADMK party leader, who is an EPS supporter.
The two-leaves symbol was earlier frozen in March 2017 during the factional split when EPS and OPS had joined hands to oust VK Sasikala. So, the AIADMK contested in the RK Nagar bypoll in Chennai that year which fell vacant following Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016 without the two-leaves symbol. Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran won the bypoll as an Independent candidate with a pressure cooker symbol.
After the election commission finished hearing both factions, in November 2017, the EC allotted it to the EPS-OPS faction, recognising them as the real AIADMK. Before this, the symbol dispute arose during the Jayalalithaa-Janaki rivalry in December 1988, too. In the January 1989 assembly elections, Janaki Ramachandran received two doves while Jayalalithaa’s faction was assigned the rooster. After DMK swept the elections and Janaki’s faction won only 1 seat and Jayalalithaa’s won 29 seats, the factions merged under Jayalalithaa who became the leader of the opposition and the two-leaves symbol came to her.
On Monday, OPS’ representative Kovai Selvaraj came early to the election commission’s meeting being held at the secretariat, where political parties were asked to send two representatives each for a discussion on linking Aadhaar card with elector’s photo identity card. The state election commission had sent an invite to the AIADMK’s headquarters, which is now in EPS’ control. Selvara promptly sat behind the name board of the AIADMK. Later, EPS’ supporters D Jayakumar and ‘Pollachi’ S Jayaraman also sat next to Selvaraj.
Before the meeting started, Jayakumar got up from his chair, took the AIADMK nameplate and kept it in front of him. “We are the AIADMK and annan (brother) EPS has sent two representatives including me for the meeting,” Jayakumar told reporters, adding he doesn’t know to which party Selvaraj belongs to. OPS’ supporters maintain that he is the coordinator and therefore the leader of the party.
“Ask him (Jayakumar) to write to the election commission and check if they have recorded EPS as anything else other than AIADMK’s joint coordinator?” Selvaraj rebutted. OPS’ faction says the party by-laws amended in December 2021 to solidify OPS and EPS as coordinator and joint coordinator is the status quo.
“The election commission has not recorded any of the recent non-sense that has happened. So (annan) OPS is the party’s leader.”
An RTI reply from the election commission of India has said it has not received any information regarding the change in by-laws for December 2021.
“The SC has asked the Madras HC to hear our case afresh. We are also informing the EC about what is happening every day. OPS has every right to the party’s name and symbol. We will be going on an appeal against the headquarters keys being handed over to EPS,” said an AIADMK senior leader who was expelled for supporting OPS.
Political analyst Ravindran Duraisamy recalled how the ruling DMK-led state agency directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption, and central agency CBI has been cornering former AIADMK ministers in various cases. “If you look at the pattern, it increasingly looks like the symbol will be frozen,” he said. “In the 2024 parliamentary elections, the AIADMK votes will be split into four ways- EPS will emerge number one followed by OPS, third to S Seeman (NTK) and to BJP.”
