Palaniswami is Tamil Nadu’s survivor-in-chief, he doesn’t need to be Jayalalithaa or MGR

That the AIADMK govt didn’t fall and served out the full term is a testimony to Palaniswami’s political instinct and capability.

A file photo of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami and his deputy O. Panneerselvam meeting the families of those killed in the wall collapse in Coimbatore | Twitter | @CMOTamilNadu

Tamil Nadu politics has, for long, been dominated by larger-than-life figures. Especially since the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or DMK came to power in 1967, when C.N. Annadurai became chief minister. M. Karunanidhi, M.G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa were all stars in their own right. Style merged with substance. Even now, M.K. Stalin, thanks to DMK tying up with pollster Prashant Kishor’s Indian-Political Action Committee, is being projected as Tamil Nadu’s saviour, and his image dominates the party’s campaign for the upcoming assembly polls to be held on 6 April. Also, leading another political front in the elections is actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, another star.

In sharp contrast is the person leading the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)’s campaign. Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who became chief minister under entirely fortuitous circumstances in February 2017, is not just low key, but also quite happy to project himself as a son of the soil. He realises he does not have the charisma or the oratorical skills needed to project oneself and draw the crowds. Palaniswami, who will turn 67 on 12 May, a good 10 days after the election results, will be banking on the goodwill that the party and its symbol ‘Two Leaves’ has to get him back in office, after what promises to be a gruelling and no-holds-barred campaign.

While his becoming chief minister may have been entirely unexpected and under dramatic circumstances, not many gave Palaniswami any chance of surviving the remainder of the term. Not a day would pass without someone or the other commenting that the government was in imminent danger of falling. That it didn’t and served out the full term is a testimony to Palaniswami’s political instinct and capability.

The accidental chief minister

Over the last four years, the “accidental” chief minister of Tamil Nadu that he was, Palaniswami proved his detractors wrong time and again. He strengthened his hold over the government, consolidated his position in the party, patched up with his predecessor and rival O. Panneerselvam, so much so that both of them put up a united front now. He has proved adept at negotiating with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and made sure his party has not conceded too many seats to the national party. Palaniswami has also done what it takes to bring the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which has a strong presence in the northern districts of the state, on board the alliance. He has made it clear in no uncertain terms that it is the AIADMK that is leading the alliance and that he is their chief ministerial candidate.

However, Palaniswami will face the toughest test of his nearly five-decades-long political career – he joined the AIADMK as a volunteer in the early 1970s – on 6 April, by when he has to convince a large number of voters that he is the best choice they have to head the government for another five years. It is still early days for opinion polls or surveys as the alliances have just been firmed up and seats allocated, but one poll by Times Now-C-Voter gave the DMK-led front 154-162 seats, a jump of nearly 60 seats, while the AIADMK alliance is projected to get 65 seats.

That Palaniswami has survived four years in office shows he has it in him to face the test, but then the outcome depends on a whole host of factors, not all of which are under his control. For his part, Palaniswami has ticked all the right boxes during his stint as chief minister and weathered many a storm. His government has waived cooperative farm loans totalling Rs 12,110 crore to benefit 16.43 lakh farmers; the state assembly announced a 10.5 per cent reservation in jobs and education for the Vanniyars from among the 20 per cent quota for most backward castes and de-notified communities; the party has also promised six free cooking gas cylinders a year and Rs 1,500 to women heads of households.

Palaniswami proved he was his own man when the government announced that the Cauvery delta – the granary of the state – would come under a Cauvery Delta Protected Special Agricultural Zone, thereby preventing any kind of industrial or commercial activity there. This move nipped in the bud the growing protest against the Centre’s move to increase hydrocarbon exploration in the delta area. Palaniswami toured the UK, the US and Dubai – the first chief minister from the state in a long time to do so – to canvass for investments. The trip was meant to convey the message that he was confident of his position and also that Tamil Nadu under him would do everything that is required to attract investments. Shortly after that trip, his publicists juxtaposed photographs of a suited and booted Palaniswami with those of him in a white shirt and his dhoti folded up to his knee, standing in an agricultural field. The messaging was loud and clear: here was a son of the soil at home in Western attire.

Under Jayalalithaa’s shadow but in his own image

It should be remembered that it was V.K. Sasikala, close confidante and friend of late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, who anointed Palaniswami as chief minister after she was convicted in a corruption case. Therefore, it took Palaniswami a while to find his moorings. He had to assert himself in the party and the government so that everyone knew who the boss was. Once he did that and after he patched up with his predecessor O. Panneerselvam, there was no stopping the chief minister.

He handpicked bureaucrats for important positions, trusted them to do their job and gave them the freedom to accomplish tasks. Palaniswami understood issues and quickly made decisions once he was convinced of what needed to be done. The chief minister also ensured that he was accessible to industrialists and the general public, which was in sharp contrast to Jayalalithaa’s style of functioning. Tamil Nadu has continued to attract investments even during the lockdown; the biggest electric vehicle two-wheeler manufacturing plant is coming up in the state.

Unlike Jayalalithaa, Palaniswami has maintained cordial relations with the Centre, to the point of the opposition DMK accusing him and his government of mortgaging the state’s interests to the Narendra Modi government. The DMK has constantly criticised Palaniswami of being a vassal of Prime Minister Modi. But the chief minister has remained undaunted by these charges and has not even bothered to respond to them. In turn, Palaniswami has challenged DMK President M.K. Stalin for an open debate on any topic, where the latter should not refer to any notes, a veiled reference to Stalin using notes in his speeches.

The Palaniswami government has, by and large, handled the Covid-19 pandemic well, even though there was a time when things seemed to be spiralling out of control. The state government quickly reshuffled a few bureaucrats and tasked them with bringing the situation back to normal.

A Chennai-based businessman, who did not want to be named, said his family had always voted for the Congress or whichever alliance the party was part of, but this time he might consider voting for the AIADMK as he knows what they are capable of.

The AIADMK’s posters give equal prominence to both Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam, with a beaming photo of Jayalalithaa and MGR, the party’s founder, on top. The party promises to continue with Amma’s (as Jayalalithaa was referred to) rule. Its campaign focusses on ‘Tamil Nadu on the path of progress’.

In the 2016 assembly election, the AIADMK got 40.8 per cent of the votes polled and won 135 seats. This time too, with the alliances and the caste arithmetic, the party is hoping it will return to power. It has hired political strategist Sunil Kanugolu, who had worked with Narendra Modi in 2014, to hone its electoral strategy. The AIADMK realises it is battling double anti-incumbency and a DMK, for which this is a do-or-die battle. It is going to be a battle of performance versus promise. The AIADMK is hoping that Palaniswami not being a cult figure will see him and the party through.

 N. Ramakrishnan is a Chennai-based independent journalist with over three decades of experience. Views are personal.