The picture of AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami sitting alone at the meeting of the AIADMK’s legislature party on July 17 tells it all. The message is loud and clear: Mr. Palaniswami, who was relatively unknown till he assumed the mantle in February 2017, presents himself as the one who is on a par with former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who was till a few weeks ago the party’s “eternal general secretary”.
Mr. Palaniswami’s thinking was evident when he became the Chief Minister nearly five-and-a-half years ago. Unlike his immediate predecessor O. Panneerselvam, who did not occupy the Chief Minister’s chamber at Fort St. George in deference to Jayalalithaa when he stepped in for her, Mr. Palaniswami did not have any such inhibition. From day one, he used the room meant for the Chief Minister till he demitted office in May 2021.
