June 2017
-Dr. Abdul Ruff
Yes, the ruling party tells lies and tries to fool the public and the O. Panneerselvam’s faction. OPS was the acting CM and Treasurer of the party during the lifetime of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa. Whatever the Sasikala faction said before has been proven false now. Public views the party as a group of selfish leaders and who tell lies to stay in power by talking about unity. It is like cricket matches where the rains are created by the mysterious forces very close to mafia lords to spoil the chances of the teams that they want to defeat.
In fact, Indian politics is primarily being conducted as part of cricket matches with suitable pitches for batboys to shine and bowlers are bought to offer big scores.
Ruling AIADMK party is eager to get the party symbol to win polls and is eager to use the OPS faction to achieve that. Otherwise, all unity talk is false. The ruling party does not want the OPS faction at all. Once the party wins the party symbol, Sasikala would be back to lead the party.
Both party factions are seen becoming weaker than before, though the OPS faction is much better than the ruling faction. The government is facing a severe existential crisis as some MLAs have taken a deviation from the ruling Palanisamy faction. Now efforts of the party are to somehow continue to rule the state, notwithstanding the split.
Meanwhile, Dinakaran, who was jailed for his corrupt effort to buy the party symbol from the Election Commission, has been released on bail from the famous Tihar jail and he has met the Sasikala in Bangalore jail and said he needs 60 days to bring the factions together. Sasikala had appointed Dinakaran, her nephew, as her deputy before she went to jail to serve a four-year sentence for corruption.
The Tamil Nadu Cabinet on April 18 had revolted against Dinakaran and decided to keep him and his family out of the party and government. Dinakaran, who was recently released on bail after being in jail for a month in the Election Commission bribery case, had kicked up a fresh row on his role in the party when he said he would “continue party work” since he had said in April that he was keeping away from party affairs.
Dinakaran was sidelined by the party as it attempted a reunion with a rebel faction led by former Tamil Nadu chief minister O. Panneerselvam or OPS, whose primary condition for a merger was that Sasikala and her family be kept away from the party and the government. Dinakaran and his aide Mallikarjuna were arrested in April by the Delhi crime branch police. The duo was charged with attempting to bribe election commission officials in the AIADMK symbol row to gain a favorable verdict.
A Delhi court on June 01 granted bail to Dinakaran and his aide Mallikarjun over allegedly bribing the Election Commission officials for the party’s two leaves symbol. The Tis Hazari court granted bail to the duo on a personal bond of Rs. Five lakh, however, they were asked to surrender their passports. Ousted All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran on Monday reached without passport Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara jail to meet party leader and General Secretary V.K. Sasikala who was jailed in February in a Disproportionate Assets (DA) case.
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister and senior AIADMK (Amma) leader D Jayakumar today said party deputy general secretary T T V Dinakaran should stick to his stand of keeping away from party affairs. Reacting to Dinakaran’s assertion that he will continue party work, Jayakumar said it was the party’s common view to hold on to its stand of having no dealings with Dinakaran, party general secretary V K Sasikala and their associates.
Jayakumar said top party functionaries and ministers started deliberations following Dinakaran’s assertion on June 3 that he will continue party work. “We are firm, and we are clear,” the minister told reporters here. “We have no truck with him; we are not dependent on him.” He said Dinakaran, Sasikala or their associates were not “in the background.” ” Dinakaran should stick to his stand that he will keep away from the party,” he said.
After Tamil Nadu Ministers had said on April 18 that they were dumping the top duo, Dinakaran had said he was stepping aside in deference to their wish. “We are leading Amma’s government without anybody being in the background there is no doubt about it,” he said.
Sasikala, whom the Jayalalithaa did not entrust any party or government post, has split and spoilt the party as she was getting ready to take over the positions of Jayalalithaa- both CM and General Secretary and loot the resources of the state. However, she could not become the CM of the state as she was sent to jail.
A prominent AIADMK leader said the ruling party is not obliged, to tell the truth to the public or take the OPS faction into confidence in whatever the government and party do. The party leaders in the media take the public for granted by telling that they are the government fulfilling the “Jayalalithaa dreams.”
The self-appointment of General Secretary by Sasikala Chinn amma is in the Election Commission and the court which is unnecessarily delaying the matter. Once the issue is settled there is clear cut possible for the factions to come together.
Sasikala and her loyal relative Dinakaran who is now facing corruption charges sought to bring together the factions by offering ministerial berths to a couple of MLAs, including OPS. They do not want OP to become CM once again because all their theatrics were meant to deny the CM post to him. Hence OPS becoming the CM again goes against their secret plan, intentions, and actions.
The ruling party leaders are frauds as they fooled the public by saying that they have removed both Sasikala and Dinakaran from the party and the posts they hold.
While Dinakaran wants to return to party activities as Deputy Secretary, the ruling party leader Jayakumar has asked Dinakaran to stay away from the party for the sake of the party and its unity. Dinakaran threatens to enter the party headquarters to prove that he is above the government.
Meanwhile, BJP continues its efforts to rope in the troubled AIADMK to form a successful alliance in Tamil Nadu and stage a comeback in Tamil Nadu politics, secret talks seemingly are underway, secretly, between AIADMK and BJP. BJP seems to have caught hold of a few TV commentator to promote BJP-AIADMK alliance.
Meanwhile, Dinakaran and Sasikala to split the ruling party and have achieved that objective as an about dozen MLAs meet separately and also meet the CM Palanisamy on some secret issues.
Meanwhile, some ministers in Palanisamy government blamed both Sasikala and Dinakaran for the untimely death of Jayalalithaa.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu is not getting proper attention of the federal government after Jaya’s death. The 14th Finance Commission has, once again, shortchanged Tamil Nadu by allocating it a bare minimum of funds. Fears of a renewed attempt to impose Hindi upon the country have led to vociferous opposition by the DMK, but a conspicuous silence on the part of the ruling party. Subsequent shows of power from the Centre, such as Union minister Venkaiah Naidu’s single threat to cut funds after inspecting records at the secretariat at Fort St George, have only added to the fear that the Palaniswamy government, in its desperation to stay in power until 2021, has bowed to the demands of Delhi.
Meanwhile, it’s happened yet again. As Jayalalithaa’s death has created a void, hoping to fill the gap, Rajinikanth, the veteran actor with almost as many monikers as movies, has once again threatened to take the plunge and formally join Tamil politics. To take on Jayalalithaa, as Rajinikanth did in 1996 when he famously declared that if she won “even God couldn’t save Tamil Nadu”, was a particularly precarious position for an actor to take, given her control over the Tamil film industry, and her ruthlessness in dealing with political enemies, perceived or otherwise.
And to take on Karunanidhi would mean dealing with a politician who has left an indelible mark on Tamil Nadu and with the last surviving link to the Justice Party and the ideals of Periyar’s Dravidian movement. Their absence has resulted in the speculation that Tamil politics is about to see a shift; that there is a potential for a new leader or party outside of the two Dravidian majors to win over the electorate.
Rajni might want to use his Tamil films to become the ruler. AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran captured the hearts and minds of the general public on screen, playing roles that solidified his reputation as a man of the people which complemented his political rhetoric. Jayalalithaa was equally well-known as an actress, while DMK chief Karunanidhi first made his name as a remarkable screenwriter and poet.
Bur Rajinikanth taking the plunge would be a highly regressive step for Tamil Nadu’s already stagnant political system. The state, since the 1970s, has witnessed the dominance of slavish cults of personality, especially under Jayalalithaa who took a leaf out of her mentor’s book and transformed herself into “Amma” (mother in Tamil) following her disastrous defeat in the 1996 Assembly elections.
The vast changes that Tamil politics has seen in the months following the death of six-time chief minister J Jayalalithaa may have influenced him to think along this line. There were claimants to the throne of Poes Garden come and fail in their attempts to seize control of the state: First Sasikala, the shadowy confidante with connections, mostly unsavory, across Tamil Nadu, then her nephew, TTV Dinakaran.
Both of their gambits failed, with Sasikala in prison, and Dinakaran recently out on bail. In their quest to seize power, the Mannargudi mafia ended up destabilizing the Tamil Nadu government. Its ruling party, the AIADMK, is now split in twain. One faction is led by three-time interim chief minister O Panneerselvam, who is currently recovering from his own failed attempt at seizing power. The other camp is led by Edappadi K Palaniswamy, and while his government is secure regarding seats in the Legislative Assembly, it is weak when it comes to dealing with the Narendra Modi government.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Assembly will meet for its next session on June 14. The session is likely to witness the debate on grants for various departments. The state government is also likely to move the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017, draft for which has already been approved by the state cabinet. Finance Minister D Jayakumar had last week said the government would “very soon” introduce the bill in the Assembly for consideration and passage. The government’s announcement on the convening of the state assembly comes amid persistent demand from main opposition party DMK in this regard to debate the grants for various departments.
The ruling faction though talks about unity they don’t want OPS to emerge as the CM because they would lose their self-importance. They just say want talks with OPS just to fool the public. Their claim is that they have 120 MLAs and won’t allow OPS with a 12 MLAs to rule the state.
Unity of factions may not happen as long as Sasikala and Dinakaran leave the party by resignations or their removal by the courts. The OPS faction doesn’t trust the ruling faction; nor does it believe what they say. CM Palanisamy should offer his post to OPS as an initial effort to bring about the real, genuine and credible unity n the party.