AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa took out her pent up fury on party officials for the “bad showing” in the Lok Sabha elections during a meeting of the executive committee in Chennai on Wednesday.
“She minced no words in berating district office-bearers for the poor show. Amma said that she had slogged like a bullock but party workers and cadres let her down,” a source present in the meeting said.
“At one point, she even expressed the desire to step down and allow others to run the show. This is a ‘typical’ threat and usually signals the beginning of a storm,” the source added. “Amma will now analyse the results in detail and take action against officials under whose charge the party fared badly. This will be the first step towards revamping the party,” the source added.
Jayalalithaa arrived sharp at 3.50 pm for the meeting that began at 4 pm and continued for two hours. “The press release has all that I have to say and I have nothing more to add,” Jayalalithaa told reporters before leaving the venue. The 10 resolutions included a subdued reference to the Sri Lankan Tamil issue and a strong one of the electoral process. Jayalalithaa has been staunchly advocating the use of traditional ballet boxes instead of voting machines, which she claims can be tampered with.
“The Election Commission of India should seriously consider reverting to ballot boxes instead of EVMs which can be fiddled with,” resolution four moved by V Senthilbalaji, the MLA from Karur, said. Resolution five from Trichy district secretary R Manoharan demanded that the internally displaced people of Sri Lanka must be rehabilitated under the Red Cross’ supervision and that the Centre should ensure a permanent solution to the issue.
Significantly, neither the executive committee meeting nor the resolutions made any reference to alliance partners. Though AIADMK won nine out of the 23 seats contested in the pre-poll “grand alliance” that included PMK, MDMK, CPI and CPM, the allies fared badly. The PMK was routed in all the seven constituencies, while MDMK, CPI and CPM managed to win one seat each. The biggest upset was the defeat suffered by MDMK chief Vaiko to political novice Manick Tagore of the Congress at Virudhunagar. AIADMK presidium chairman E Madhusoodhanan presided over the meeting. Also present was Jayalalithaa’s political confidante O Paneerselvam.
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