Supreme Court upholding the conviction of AIADMK General Secretary V. K Sasikala in a disproportionate assets case besides trashing her hopes of becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has opened the gate for smooth transition for Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. Tamil politics has been at the diversionary state with these two loyalist of Jayalalthaa vying for power. Political stability has played a key role in Tamil Nadu’s development over the years. Its economy has been growing at a rate of around 12 per cent in the past 10 years, much higher than the national average. Jayalalitha’s death has triggered an air of uncertainty among the 75 million Tamils who had been used to seeing the AIADMK either as a governing party or as the main opposition for nearly four decades. It is well known that there is no second – or even third – line of leadership in the party. The AIADMK flourished and succeeded mainly because of the charisma of Jayalalitha after she took over the party in 1990. At the helm, she never allowed anyone to challenge her and those who showed signs of rebellion were summarily dismissed. Rivals were waiting for the party to split and if this is allowed “the souls of (AIADMK founder) M G Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa will not forgive us,” Panneerselvam had said and invited all ministers and MLAs to work together and take forward the legacy of MGR and Jayalalithaa and “keep up their pride”. It took 30 years for a single party to achieve an outright majority in the Parliament, in 2014. Support of the regional parties was crucial in the formation of a national Coalition Government and any infighting within the AIADMK is also likely to have an impact at the national level politics. In the past two decades, India’s political direction has been dictated by powerful regional parties and the AIADMK was one of them.
