Team News Riveting
Chennai, May 2
What went wrong with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for failing to retain power in Tamil Nadu?
The thumping victory of the M K Stalin-led DMK-Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu did not contest the exit polls outcome though it ran short of the 160 seats predicted by most of the surveys. The party was set to bag 144 seats with its ally Congress in the state while AIADMK had been confined to 72 seats with its ally BJP getting just three.
Why did the AIADMK led government after five years in power had the bleak chances of returning to power? The absence of Former chief minister late J Jayalalithaa inflicted a strong blow to the party. It was a loss of leadership that almost plunged the AIADMK into crisis. While it tried to hold its act together, the cards seem to be falling apart. Many had predicted that AIADMK would be limited to 30-35 seats but it could manage double.
Losing a leader, the face of the party, and much-criticised handling of the Covid-19 pandemic also played a role in AIADMK’s plunging popularity. It’s handling of caste issues, farmer issues, growing unemployment, etc could be possible reasons for its falling out of favour among the public.
Tamil Nadu had its debut of ‘resort politics’ after Jayalalithaa’s death in 2018 following the rebellion by the O Panneerselvam (OPS) faction against Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) of the AIADMK. The merger of the two factions happened, but only with Jayalalithaa’s aide Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran’s exit from the party. Sasikala was sent to jail within months of Jayalalithaa’s death in an asset case, the reigns of the party were handed over to Edappadi K Palaniswami.
The party found itself divided into two camps, EPS on one side, rebel OPS on the other side. Resort politics made an emergence in the political arena. However, the party managed to hold the fort and EPS-OPS camps resolved their differences. OPS was given the deputy CM post. Despite the differences, the government sailed through the crisis. But the magic clearly faded away.
All the factors clubbed together, along with the anti-incumbency sentiment, the DMK-Congress had an upper edge in the election.
