Decks cleared for AIADMK merger

The decks have been cleared for the merger of the two factions of the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu with Chief Minister E. Palaniswami announcing that a judicial probe will be conducted into the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who had died mysteriously in a Chennai hospital on December 5 last year. After Jayalalithaa’s protégé V.K. Sasikala’s nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran was ousted from the post of deputy general secretary of the party recently, a high powered probe into the iconic Jayalalithaa’s death was one of the main unfulfilled demands of O. Panneerselvam, the leader of the other faction, that was holding up the merger. It has been no secret that the BJP, especially Prime Minister Modi, has been keen on the merger of the two factions of AIADMK and without saying so explicitly also for a probe into Jayalalithaa’s death in the wake of suspicions that Sasikala and her extended family may have had a role in Jayalalithaa’s death. Palaniswami had been resisting this demand for probe so far and was dragging his feet on another demand of Jayalalithaa’s close associate and her minister of finance Panneerselvam to divest Sasikala of the charge of being the party’s general secretary.

By now ordering a probe by a retired High Court judge, Palaniswami has indeed killed two birds with one stone—clearing the decks for a merger of the Panneerselvam faction with his own thereby also appeasing Modi, and of appropriating Jayalalithaa’s political legacy. Also, by accepting the demand for converting the Poes Garden residence of the former chief minister into a memorial for Jayalalithaa, Palaniswami has earned kudos all around and held out a strong rebuff to Sasikala who, though in jail convicted in a disproportionate assets case, has been in remote control of the premises where she lived with Jayalalithaa when the latter was in power. Now, it goes without saying that even if the party general secretary’s post is not wrested from Sasikala her continuance would be meaningless as she has been shorn of all authority. Dinakaran, who has her blessings, will use his considerable money power to get some legislators on their side but considering how down and out Sasikala and he would be, there would at best be a handful of supporters to stand with them.