AIADMK’s youth mission stuck in booths; less takers for chief’s target

CHENNAI: With less than ten months to go for the Assembly polls, the district secretaries of the AIADMK are struggling to meet general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami’s expectations to put up a strong fight against the DMK-led front.

Palaniswami has been emphasising the importance of booth-level committees and the active participation of youngsters, including women, to keep pace with the evolving dynamics of State politics. He has never missed an opportunity to reiterate this in every meeting with district secretaries and in-charges for over a year. But, this has not translated into action in several district units.

On the other hand, its arch-rival, the DMK, is gaining momentum, having conducted several rounds of meetings with its district secretaries. The DMK chief and Chief Minister MK Stalin is now meeting lower-rung functionaries from each constituency, which has sent the AIADMK leadership into panic, over lag in their party.

In addition, the criteria laid down by Palaniswami–an age limit of under 45 years for members, three women representatives, and a significant presence of young people in each booth panel–have made the task tough for the functionaries. He instructed that these norms be strictly followed in all the 82 district units, according to party insiders.

“For every member, we must submit a photograph, a photocopy of their membership card, and a voter ID with the application forms. Many women members’ families are unwilling to share their photos and phone numbers. This has pushed many to submit fake or random numbers, derailing the entire exercise that should cover around 70,000 booths in 234 constituencies,” said a senior leader in charge of one of the district units in the Delta.

Except for the district units in Pudukkottai and a few others, most units have faltered in the exercise. The district units in Chennai and the neighbouring districts were among the worst performers. This prompted Palaniswami to bring in senior leaders to oversee the task. However, despite multiple extensions granted to submit the reports, no desired results were achieved.

At a meeting held at the party headquarters in the last week of May, Palaniswami reprimanded some district secretaries and in-charges for falling behind the revised deadlines.

Meanwhile, the IT wing has been tasked with validating the membership data by contacting booth panel members directly. So, many district unit functionaries are hesitant to submit the list to avoid the embarrassment of giving ‘false numbers’ and manufactured data, said a functionary.

“After scrutinising the information on booth panels submitted last month, we received queries regarding missing phone numbers, membership cards, and photos. We have been asked to furnish the missing details on or before June 20,” said a former minister, who is in charge of a district in the Delta region.

The leader added that the party leadership should consider ‘practical difficulties’ to ensure that this exercise is successful. He also suggested that the age limit should be revoked and seniors should be permitted in the booth panels to guide the youth.