The AIADMK, which held its general council last week, ahead of the Lok Sabha election, is making every effort to keep the party machinery well-prepared to face the situation in the coming months.
On Wednesday, the party’s general secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, chaired a meeting of office-bearers of the Information Technology (IT) wing. He told his colleagues that he would personally monitor the functioning of the IT wing, given that about 1.35 lakh members of the wing had been posted to over 67,600 polling booths – which was the figure during the pre-COVID-19 period – at a rate of two per booth. As the number of party districts has gone up over the years (currently 82), 12 zones have been formed to oversee the functioning of the IT wing at the field level. Besides, “Mr. Palaniswami has set quantified deliverables to the party district secretaries as part of preparations for the Lok Sabha poll,” an office-bearer said.
On Wednesday evening, the party announced that a meeting of the district secretaries would be held on January 9, under the chairmanship of Mr. Palaniswami.
However, what the party is also conscious of is the possibility of smaller outfits, such as the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), the Puthiya Tamilagam and the Indiya Jananayaka Katchi, not tying up with the AIADMK for the election. “Following the results of the elections to five State Assemblies, of which the BJP won three, these parties feel that they would stand to gain more by siding with the BJP which, according to these parties, is better placed to retain power at the Centre,” a veteran said.
But the party’s organisation secretary, D. Jayakumar, told The Hindu after the general council meeting that “at the time of the Lok Sabha election, we will tell you all regarding our allies.” There are other functionaries, including P. Venugopal, Tiruvallur’s former Member of Parliament and the AIADMK’s medical wing secretary, who are confident of the party “getting back” support from religious minorities in view of its break with the BJP.
Meanwhile, the party’s former coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, is also preparing the members of his party for the Lok Sabha election. In Chennai, he resumed his interaction with district-level office-bearers. The former Chief Minister, who had covered many districts in the western region, will visit all neighbouring districts of Chennai in a day or two.
He has been friendly with AMMK general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran and, in August, the two addressed a meeting together in Theni and urged the DMK government to launch a thorough probe into the 2017 murder and heist at former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad estate in the Nilgiris. He has also been sending out the message that he is getting closer to the BJP. This was evident in Tiruchi on Tuesday, when he was among those who received and gave a send-off to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, on record, Mr. Panneerselvam said there was “nothing political” in his meeting with Mr. Modi.
