The AIADMK, by declaring the 66-year-old Edappadi K. Palaniswami as its Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2021 Assembly election, is the latest to join the recent trend of major political parties announcing their CM candidates well ahead of polling.
It has to change its tack in view of the prevailing situation, according to many leaders of the party.
The party, when headed by its founder M.G. Ramachandran and his successor Jayalalithaa, did not formally promote them as its nominees for the CM post between 1977 and 2016.
Seeking to explain the difference between then and now, K.P. Munusamy, a party veteran and AIADMK deputy coordinator, says Mr. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister-coordinator of the party O. Panneerselvam, who are at the helm of the party, came from within the ranks.
“They have reached the present position, thanks to the guidance and support of Amma [Jayalalithaa]. It is but natural that we, in the party, have to declare Mr. Palaniswami our nominee so that there is no confusion among the party workers.”
Natural choice
Dindigul C. Sreenivasan, Minister for Forest and one of the organising secretaries, said Mr. Palaniswami, a four-time legislator and one-time Member of Parliament, had been providing “good governance” in the last three-and-a-half years. “It is but natural that he is projected as the CM candidate.”
A senior leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there was a compulsion for the party to do “political branding” to counter the campaign of its principal adversary, the DMK, highlighting its chief, M.K.Stalin, as the next Chief Minister. “We, in the party, have been getting reports that several sections of society are of the view that Mr. Palaniswami, who first became Highways Minister in 2011 and got the PWD too five years later, has been functioning well as CM amid huge constraints of resources in the State. Who else can be promoted? So, the option for my party is very limited,” the leader observes.
C. Ponnaiyan, who was Minister during the Cabinets headed by MGR and Jayalalithaa and now Vice-Chairperson of the State Development Policy Council, says it was “incorrect” to say that MGR and Jayalalithaa were not projected as the CM nominees.
“Workers of the party and people of the State viewed them only as such. So, the present decision is nothing new.”
Besides, the day’s development was in line with the understanding reached between the camps of Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam at the time of merger of the two groups three years ago.
“Also, the rank and file of the party regard Mr. Palaniswami as the capable leader who can challenge the DMK,” Mr. Ponnaiyan adds.