Caste fault lines to the fore as power strife in divided AIADMK intensifies

CHENNAI: Ahead of the crucial Assembly poll that is just a few months away, AIADMK, the principal opposition party, is a divided house, with factions and splinter groups engrossed in a bitter power struggle.

The man at the heart of it is general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, who is not only battling multiple battles with the Thevar leaders, ousted leader VK Sasikala, her nephew and AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, and expelled leader O Panneerselvam, but also murmurs within his own Gounder/Kongu camp in the form of senior leader KA Sengottaiyan.

Sasikala and Dhinakaran have been camping in their home turf in recent days to consolidate the support of their community against Palaniswami. While she continues to harp on unity to ensure the return of the ‘Amma regime’, Dhinakaran has been on an all-out attack against Palaniswami.

According to insiders in both camps, until EPS heads the party and the expelled leaders take proactive steps for reconciliation, the merger of the factions would remain “impossible”.

What has made matters worse is Dhinakaran’s tirade against Palaniswami at the public meeting at Ramanathapuram on Jayalalithaa’s 77th birth anniversary, alleging that he was working for just one community on the caste line. This has not gone down well among the party cadre in the Kongu belt.

Old timers see this as Dhinakaran banking on the “caste-based political mode” to revive his political fortunes and emerge as the sole face of the Thevar community. “He is frequenting Theni as he eyes Andipatti constituency for the 2026 polls,” said a functionary from the district.

The relentless power struggle has left many functionaries who believe that the revival of the party is possible only by uniting against the ruling DMK in despair. “We have given up on our goal to reunite the factions and revive the party’s former glory,” said V Pugazhenthi, a member of the three-person AIADMK integration committee that was formed a year ago. He said neither Sasikala nor the EPS camp was helping to fructify their efforts.

Former MP KC Palanisamy is critical of O Panneerselvam and TTV for resorting to “old tactics to revive the Forward Block vote bank” in their favour by whipping up caste sentiments among the Mukkulathor. It would be a political blunder, akin to Palaniswami’s unilateral and autocratic decisions against the larger good of the party, he alleged.

However, a former minister and EPS loyalist dismissed the allegations and blamed the DMK for keeping the factional feud alive. The ruling party is using words uttered by the leaders against each other for political gain, he said. “They are trying to discredit the AIADMK and setting a narrative that we are a weakened force. But it is not the fact,” he said.