After urban poll rout focus may shift to Sasikala in AIADMK

Chennai: The rout of the AIADMK in the urban local body polls will raise major questions for the present leadership of the party led by two former Chief Ministers, O Panneerselvam and Edappadi. K Palaniswami.

The DMK returned to power after a gap of ten years in 2021 and in the ensuing rural local body polls for the nine new districts, the DMK front won handsomely giving the opposition AIADMK no chance at the hustings.

The heavy loss in the urban local body polls is a death blow for the present leadership of the party and rumblings are expected to start in the party in the coming days.

VK Sasikala, the estranged interim general secretary of the AIADMK, is waiting and watching the developments in the main opposition party and the possibility of the former aide of late J. Jayalalithaa making a bid to take over the party is not remote.

Sasikala was expelled from the AIADMK by the dual leadership of OPS and EPS. With the fighting spirit of her Thevar community she is likely to try and take over the reins of the party.

She has been working in the background ever since she came out from the Central prison in Bengaluru and has been in regular touch with party leaders and cadres across the state. She has set up a team to connect her to the party cadres and leaders and the powerful Thevar community to which she belongs is also supporting her.

AIADMK Chief Coordinator and former Chief Minister Pannerselvam also belongs to the Thevar community and backroom negotiations between Sasikala and OPS had taken place a couple of times at the instance of the Thevar community elders.

However, the Palaniswami faction of the party including D. Jayakumar,CVe Shanmugham, and a few other leaders, were opposed to her re-entry into the party. The total rout of the party in the urban polls including losing seats in the home constituencies of the two leaders will be a major factor and the leaders opposed to her entry cannot do much.

While Sasikala is not a natural leader like the late MGR or Jayalalithaa, she can emerge as a factor to unite the warring party factions and a common factor leading to the party's resurgence among the cadres.

The next big challenge for the party will be the 2024 general elections. The BJP had announced before the urban polls that it was snapping ties with the Dravidian party only for the local polls and will continue the alliance in both the Lok Sabha and assembly elections.