The Hindu : An exercise in bridging party-govt. divide

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

An exercise in bridging party-govt. divide

By Suresh Nambath

CHENNAI DEC. 16. At the first general council meeting beginning tomorrow, after returning to power, the AIADMK will set itself the task of bridging the party-government divide and arrest any sense of alienation among functionaries and workers.

After having spent the first 18 months in the Government grappling with a financial crisis and fighting legal battles, the Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary, Jayalalithaa, will utilise the opportunity to directly interact with grass roots functionaries for a feedback.

Following the recent tough measures taken by the Government, the party functionaries would be expected to explain to the people the rationale behind the fiscal reforms and in achievements of the last one-and-a-half years. To do this, they will look to the party leader for guidance and the finer points which need to be driven home.

Unlike as in the previous Jayalalithaa regime, when Ministers held powerful posts in the AIADMK too, at present many of the senior ministers are not functionaries in the party organisation. Conversely, many of the senior functionaries are out of the Government. With Ms. Jayalalithaa herself being in and out of the Government, depending on the success or failure of her legal battles, the arrangement helped to maintain a balance of power.

In the party hierarchy, Ms. Jayalalithaa is followed by the chairman, Pulamai Pithan; the treasurer, S. Sreenivasan; the organising secretaries, Visalakshi Nedunchezhiyan and E.V.K. Sulochana Sampath; headquarters secretary, K.A. Sengottaiyan; the propaganda secretary, O.S. Maniam; the legal advisor, P.H. Pandian, and the second-rung of organising secretaries, K. Malaisamy, Vijayalakshmi Palanisamy and T.T.V. Dinakaran. None of them is in the government.

With M. Thambi Durai losing both his ministership and party post, no senior Minister holds a State-level post in the organisation. However, some of the Ministers are district secretaries mainly because Ms. Jayalalithaa expects them to oversee development works in their native districts apart from looking after specific portfolios.

Indeed, regional representation is an important criterion in the choice of Ministers, and Ms. Jayalalithaa is on record that she would like to have at least one Minister for each district. That being the case, Ministers holding district party posts is a way of putting them ``administratively in charge of districts.'' This move was put into practice after Ms. Jayalalithaa was sworn in Chief Minister again in March this year. During the period she was out of office, from September 2001 to March 2002, the government-party divide was really wide.

Not surprisingly, many in the party view the timing of the general council in the context of the Supreme Court judgment in the TANSI case, which is expected any time now.

The timing is significant for another reason. The AIADMK is completing its membership drive next month and preparing for organisational elections later next year.

Given the history of the general council meetings, there could be some fireworks with partymen being allowed to voice their complaints against Ministers and senior party functionaries.

Party insiders say Ms. Jayalalithaa's style is to encourage intra-party rivalry on the middle and lower rungs as one way of keeping Ministers and senior functionaries in check. This might therefore come into full play during the two days of the meeting.

Of course, there would be unwritten limits to speaking, and partymen taking the mike would have to walk the tightrope, pleasing Ms. Jayalalithaa and pleading their own case.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

Stories in this Section

Setbacks for the CBI

Dissecting the Gujarat verdict

Extradition & international law

Courts & minority education — II

An exercise in bridging party-govt. divide

Tax reform and human development