AIADMK to commence door-to-door campaign against DMK

Chennai, Jan 16 (BPNS)

The opposition AIADMK which is not in a good position politically will commence a state-wide campaign against the DMK after Pongal holidays to highlight people against the state government’s ‘misrule’.

The party interim general secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) in a recent party office bearers meeting said that a direct grass root connects with the people of the state was the need of the hour.

AIADMK is in a tight spot after the party state coordinator and former Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam (OPS) was expelled from the party during the last general elections in July 2021. The former interim general secretary of the party, V.K. Sasikala who was a close aide of the late Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha was also expelled from the party along with her nephew, TTV Dhinakaran. Both OPS and Sasikala belong to the powerful Thevar community of Tamil Nadu that calls the shot in Southern Tamil Nadu.

With the AIADMK being the preferred political party of the Thevar community, the expulsion of these strong leaders has dealt a body blow to the party in these belts.

EPS in the recent meeting told the party leaders, that the DMK government under Stalin was gaining at the grass root level and that there has to be strong opposition exposing the misdeeds of the government. The party has to overcome its own organizational weakness to counter the powerful DMK and hence,it has chalked out a strategy of directly meeting the people.

While EPS will not be traveling across the state, he will also be part of the direct door-to-door campaign of the party aimed at the 2024 general elections. The party will also have to provide sufficient number of seats to the NDA from Tamil Nadu given the fact that the BJP is looking for a major expansion in the South of India where it has a presence only in Karnataka.

Sources in the AIADMK told IANS that the BJP national leadership is for unity among the warring factions of the AIADMK but EPS is not agreeable to this and wants to prove the BJP leadership that he is in full control of the party.

However, the BJP national leadership is trying for a rapprochement between EPS, OPS, and V.K. Sasikala so that the anti- DMK votes are not split in Tamil Nadu.

Dr. G. Manonmani, Professor of  Political Science while speaking to BPNS said, “The AIADMK is a powerful political entity of Tamil Nadu. However, the party is now divided into several factions and it has to overcome its own organizational issues to pose a challenge to the ruling DMK. The central leadership of the BJP is in for a truce with all the factions of the AIADMK so that peace prevails and the party functions as a single entity against the DMK to bring results from Tamil Nadu for the NDA.”

It is to be noted that the DMK has won 38 of the 39 loksabha seats from the state and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has openly called for the party cadres and middle-level leaders to win all the seats for the DMK-led alliance in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. This will lead to the AIADMK facing a tough situation and hence it has to be seen how the party matches up to the expectations of the BJP and other allies during the loksabha polls.