Now, AIADMK will try to encash on Brand Amma

THE FORMER FILMSTAR REMAINED LEADER OF AIADMK FOR 3 DECADES AFTER HER MENTOR AND PARTY FOUNDER MGR DIED IN 1987

CHENNAI: After J Jayalalithaa who? The question over who will now lead the AIADMK has an easy answer – No one, at least not among the present crop of leaders.

The six-time Tamil Nadu chief minister was a mass leader, commanding the devotion of millions who affectionately called her Amma, or mother, and were inconsolable as she was laid to rest on Tuesday.

The 68-year-old leader’s charisma and popularity would be a hard act to follow for anyone but in a party which for three decades was controlled by one leader with an iron hand, there is no second rung.

Her loyalists proclaimed Jaya to be the permanent general secretary of the AIADMK. No one in the party would dare to step into her shoes, at least not in near future.

But it does not imply political upheaval. The party is comfortably placed, enjoying a brute majority of 136 in the 234-member assembly. There is no immediate threat to the government now led by O Panneerselvam, sworn in as CM within hours of Jaya’s death.

The party and government will try to cash in more on the Amma brand.

“Three-fourths of the AIADMK MLAs cannot win the next election. So they will blindly follow whoever is nominated,” professor Ramu Manivannan of the Madras University said.

Archrival DMK, with 98 MLAs and 30 short of majority, would not break up AIADMK.

Jaya’s friend of many years Sasikala Natarajan wields considerable clout in the party. What her role would be remains to be seen.

The scenario is in contrast to the situation that unfolded when Jaya’s mentor and party founder MG Ramachandra died in 1987.

Jaya was a popular leader but MGR’s wife Janaki staked claim to his legacy.

Thousands of mourners saw Jaya being pushed out of the gun carriage carrying MGR’s body. She fought her way back.

But in today’s AIADMK, there is no Jaya.

National parties, relegated to the margins, would get pushy with both Dravidian parties facing a churn.

If the BJP backs the present dispensation, it could hope to team up AIADMK later, Manivannan said.

The Congress, too, would like want AIADMK as a partner. Its naming of S Thirunavukkarasar as state chief could come in handy. Thirunavukkarasar was one of the few leaders who stood by Jaya after MGR’s death.