‘There is no government’: As AIADMK factions fight it out, Jayalalithaa’s constituency faces neglect

Ever since the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December, the iron gates of the local MLA’s office in Dr Radhakrishna Nagar in North Chennai have been locked. Jayalalithaa represented this constituency in the state Assembly. The bye-elections that were scheduled to take place here on April 12 – to vote for a new MLA and councillor – were cancelled by the Election Commission, after it was alleged that some parties were offering bribes to voters.

“We haven’t had an MLA or councillor for the past six months,” said V Selvi, who runs a small shop just outside the office. “RK Nagar has been neglected by everyone after the bye-elections were called off.”

But the residents are hardly surprised by this given that the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has split into two major factions, each vying for Jayalalithaa’s legacy. In a trust vote on February 18, the E Palanisamy camp, backed by Jayalalithaa’s close aide VK Sasikala, won support from the majority of legislators and formed the government.

However, on April 21, the two factions set up a seven-member panel to hold merger talks. The faction headed by rebel leader O Panneerselvam demanded the expulsion of AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dinakaran from the party, and a CBI inquiry into Jayalalithaa’s death as conditions for any merger. But on Sunday, Panneerselvam disbanded the panel, saying that the Palanisamy camp was making irresponsible statements.

The situation got murkier on Monday, when video clips emerged of two MLAs confessing that legislators were bribed to support the Sasikala faction during February’s trust vote. SS Saravanan, the MLA of Madurai South was caught saying in a video that the Sasikala faction offered crores worth of gold to each MLA for their support. Saravanan also said that voters in RK Nagar were bribed with Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 each by Sasikala’s faction. Saravanan is the MLA who escaped from a resort the AIADMK legislators were corralled in ahead of the trust vote. He then switched to the Panneerselvam camp. The other MLA is R Kanakaraj, from Sulur, who is from the Sasikala faction. He was also caught on camera saying that MLAs were offered cash and gold ahead of the trust vote.

The Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has now moved court demanding a CBI investigation into these bribery allegations.

As uncertainty in the AIADMK escalates, the residents of RK Nagar are worried that their problems will not be addressed in the near future.

Residents baffled

In RK Nagar, any question about the current government in Tamil Nadu is met with a confused look, or a shake of the head. “There is no government,” was the standard response from residents. “Everyone is busy fighting with each other.”

At noon, 60-year-old E Rani, a domestic worker, sat down on the side of the road to rest her feet after her visit to the taluk office in RK Nagar to collect her old-age pension amounting to Rs 1,000. She had to return empty-handed. “For three or four months, so many of us have not been getting our pension,” she lamented. “But we have to keep making trips ever other day to the office. Why are they making us elderly persons run around in this heat?”

The residents blamed the inefficiency of government schemes on the fact that there is nobody in charge of the constituency.

“If Jayalalithaa Amma had been there, everything would have been in order,” said D Selvan, an AIADMK party member and resident of RK Nagar.

A supporter of the AIADMK for 45 years, Selvan is now unsure about which faction of the party he should now support. With Dinakaran out on bail, and with indications that AIADMK legislators were backing him, loyal supporters of the party are confused. “Every leader is making money for themselves, and not bothering about ordinary people like us,” said Selvan. “The party is not going the right way by bribing voters and legislators, and that is the truth.”

Unsure times

The uncertainty in the AIADMK has raised the hopes of DMK supporters in this constituency, who are certain that the party will win the bye-elections, and the next Assembly elections too.

The entry of superstar Rajnikanth into politics did not seem to excite the residents of RK Nagar much. “His time to enter politics was over long ago,” said G Mohan, a roadside vendor. “It is only his fans who want him to be political leader. But the general public won’t vote for him.”

According to senior journalist G Sampath Kumar, there has never been a more uncertain time than this for the AIADMK, not even after the death of party founder MG Ramachandran in 1987.

“The only uncertainty at that time was during the fight between Jayalalithaa’s faction and MGR’s wife, Janaki’s faction,” he said. Janaki Ramachandran became the chief minister for three weeks, until the state Assembly was dissolved by the Union government due to law and order issues, explained Kumar.

Now, with the release of AIADMK’s deputy general secretary Dinakaran from prison on bail, Kumar predicted that even more uncertainty lay ahead for the party.

“The AIADMK government and the party itself face uncertainty following the release of TTV Dinakaran,” he said. “As the judicial process in India is extremely slow, it can safely be assumed that he is and will be virtually free, exercising his control over the party for a long time to come.”