BJP’s another TN plan in tatters

E.T.B. SIVAPRIYAN

November 21 – Three months to this day, the O Pannerselvam camp, which had declared a “Dharma Yudham” on the Edappadi K Palaniswami camp in February, called off the war and worked out an arrangement to create the unified AIADMK which has never been united since its tallest leader J Jayalalithaa who ruled the party with an iron fist passed away after battling several illnesses at a corporate hospital in Chennai.

Three months later, Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan, the first AIADMK leader to join OPS after he declared a war on the Sasikala family following his most-famous 45-minute meditation at the Jayalalithaa memorial on the Marina Beach, let the cat out of a bag through a three-liner message on his Facebook page.

“It has been three months since the EPS-OPS faction merged. Months have gone, but have the hearts synced,” Maitreyan, who had his roots in the RSS and later joined the AIADMK, wrote on Facebook, triggering a political blast in Tamil Nadu.

People of Tamil Nadu already knew that all is not well within the “unified AIADMK” but Maitreyan’s public proclamation that “hearts have not synced” even after three months is a clear indication that the forced marriage is in tatters.

It is common knowledge that the merger was thrust upon both the EPS and OPS factions by their new high command – the BJP of Narendra Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah.

After Jayalalithaa’s death, Modi and Shah took upon themselves the task of “cleaning up corruption” in Tamil Nadu’s political space to fill the “vacuum left” by the charismatic leader, but ended up joining hands with the very same people whose tenures as PWD Minister have been under cloud for various irregularities in awarding tenders and sand mining projects.

To ensure that the EPS Government survives, albeit till the 2019 General elections or at least till the end of 2018, the Modi-Shah duo worked overtime on uniting EPS and OPS, who had parted ways in February.

Though OPS, who had commanded much respect among party cadre after his rebellion against Sasikala and due to his standing as close confidante of Jayalalithaa who had chosen him to occupy the Chief Minister’s chair twice when she had to quit on corruption charges, was very hesitant to accept the merger and work under his political junior, EPS, the duo’s master – Modi – put his foot down and ordered them to execute his instructions.

The OPS-EPS duo could have opposed the merger, but they could not since they had several things to hide and fear for – both had held the PWD portfolio on different occasions and they faced the risk of facing inquiry or I-T action if they had resisted the move.

I-T department has been the tool that has been notoriously misused post-Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu as the BJP used it indiscriminately to target its rivals and bring many whom it felt necessary for its mission TN on line. Searches were conducted on the premises of the then Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana
Rao, his friend Shekhar Reddy, Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar and now those owned by Sasikala family. But, there has been no outcome so far on any of these raids.

Coming back to OPS, he has been feeling uncomfortable right from the day the merger took place as he felt he did not get his due. Only one of this follower – MaFoi K Pandiarajan – was accommodated in the Cabinet and several others were overlooked and pleas with EPS to part away with key positions of boards went into deaf ears and discontent was becoming visible in his camp.

And Maitreyan’s Facebook statement brings out the rumblings within the OPS camp – his outburst might be linked to him being pushed into the side lines – and will absolutely be just the beginning, not the end.

The statement not just reflects EPS’ leadership but the overall strategy of the Modi-Shah duo.

Once again, BJP’s one more Tamil Nadu plan appears to be falling apart. Distancing itself or dumping the EPS-OPS duo will not absolve BJP of its misdeeds.

Raids at Poes Garden: BJP’s disastrous mistake

E.T.B. SIVAPRIYAN

Whatever may be the outcome of the late nights raids at Poes Garden residence of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, the political ramifications are huge and would haunt the EPS-OPS duo who are ruling Tamil Nadu right now for long.

Raids have taken place at the residence of the very same person whose soul, the duo, say is guiding them in running the government and launch a ‘dharma yudham’ on the corrupt Sasikala family and both the chief minister and his deputy should break their silence and answer questions posed by the cadre.

Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam might claim innocence saying Income Tax department just did its duty, but if one goes by what happened at Poes Garden on Friday night, it is sure that the top brass of the Tamil Nadu Government was aware of the searches.

As Income Tax officials went inside the sprawling palatial garden, it was the state police personnel, not the CRPF which comes under the Union Home Ministry, that surrounded the entire area and restricted access for public and media. It could only mean one thing – the CM and his deputy were informed much in advance about the raids.

Though the AIADMK and BJP might go into the fine details to justify the raid by saying that only those rooms once occupied by Jayalalithaa’s all-powerful secretary P S Poonkundran were searched, none of the party man would buy the argument.

If Income Tax officials had to seize documents from the residence, they could have done it discreetly without making the searches into a full-blown media spectacle. T T V Dhinakaran, the nephew of now incarnated V K Sasikala who was an outsider in the party after having banished by Jayalalithaa from Poes Garden in 2011, used the raids to openly accuse the EPS-OPS duo of being “behind” the raids and termed the searches as a “betrayal” of Amma’s soul.

If things go at the speed as they are, Dhinakaran may not have to try and break the party – it would come to him on a platter as it did for Jayalalithaa in 1989 after those sided with MGR’s widow Janaki realised that she was indeed a political liability following her faction’s no-show at the 1989 hustings.

EPS and OPS, who at the hat of a drop claim that their government is guided by the soul of Amma, should shun their golden silence and make it clear where they stand. If they support the raids, it would mean they are discreetly agreeing to popular perception that Jayalalithaa ran a corrupt administration since Poonkundran was running the show in Poes Garden.

If they come out against the raids, they will open a front with the BJP Government at the Centre, risking their own dispensation here. It is a real catch-22 situation for the duo, who had been knocking at the doors of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as if he is their high command, but their silence would be construed that they were part of the decision to raid Poes Garden.

Poes Garden is no temple and Jayalalithaa is no god – but for millions of AIADMK cadre a trip to Poes Garden was always a pilgrimage and Jayalalithaa was the presiding deity. For the very people who claim that Jayalalithaa’s soul is guiding them, it would be politically incorrect not to condemn the raids; but they would risk antagonising Modi.

One thing is clear from the raids – the BJP is fast becoming political liability in Tamil Nadu and the idea of Dravidian politics taking more prominence ahead of 2019 general elections.