Tamil Nadu has been edged into an unenviable position. The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was plunged into turmoil on Tuesday after caretaker Chief Minister O Panneerselvam dramatically claimed that party general secretary VK Sasikala forced him to vacate the chief minister’s post.
Sasikala had been chosen as leader of the AIADMK’s legislative party on Sunday after Panneerselvam’s resignation and was supposed to be sworn in on Monday. But despite the party sending the letter of support from legislators to acting governor Vidayasagar Rao and asking him to administer the oath of office to Sasikala, there was no response from Raj Bhavan. Instead, Rao returned to Mumbai and chose to participate in public events as the governor of Maharashtra, a position he also holds, without even acknowledging the crisis in Tamil Nadu.
While his office in Mumbai has said that he would arrive in Chennai on Thursday afternoon, there is no word on whether he will invite Sasikala to form the government.
It is as though the governor seems not understand the extent of the damage that this delay in appointing a new head of government is causing the state’s administration. Apart from the crisis in the ruling party, Tamil Nadu is in the peculiar position of having several levels of the administration at a standstill.
Peculiar situation
Panneerselvam’s revolt against Sasikala has created a situation where the caretaker chief minister is receiving no cooperation from his cabinet colleagues. The crisis in the ruling party has occupied the time of several ministers, who spent Tuesday and Wednesday shuttling between the Poes Garden residence of former chief minister Jayalalithaa, where Sasikala is currently living, and AIADMK headquarters on Avvai Shanmugam Salai. This has obviously had a bearing on governance, as was evident from the state’s poor response to the oil spill that damaged Chennai’s beaches last week.
But that is not all. Tamil Nadu currently has no functional local bodies. The city corporations, municipalities and panchayats are being run by special officers as the tenure of elected representatives ended in October. Elections were postponed because of legal challenges against the notification issued for the panchayat polls last October.
This means Tamil Nadu is entirely being run by bureaucrats without a functional political leadership.
This comes at a time when the state is facing its second-worst drought in history. There has been a spate of farmer suicides over the last two months and several regions are facing a shortage of drinking water.
Governor’s silence
Governor Rao seems to be oblivious to these problems. Legally, the governor should have invited the leader elected by the legislative party to form the government. By convention, the time and venue of the swearing in is always chosen by the incoming chief minister.
But despite Sasikala staking claim to form the government, Rao chose to ignore her. This meant the preparations that were underway for the swearing-in ceremony at the University of Madras had to be abruptly halted.
Rao’s manner of functioning has raised questions about the Centre’s role in the whole affair. Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of using the governor’s office to fish in the troubled waters of Tamil Nadu.
Given the camaraderie that Panneerselvam and Prime Minister Narendra Modi Hve displayed during their meetings over the last two months, a natural suspicion that arises is if the Centre was playing politics in the matter by delaying Sasikala’s swearing-in ceremony. By contrast, when Jayalalithaa passed away on December 5, the same governor decided to swear-in Panneerselvam within hours. The ceremony was arranged past midnight, showing how if the governor intended, matters could move swiftly.
On Tuesday, the initial response of AIADMK spokespersons to Panneerselvam’s revolt was that the hand of the BJP was clearly visible in the developments. They later began attacking the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, perhaps seeking to avoid a confrontation with the Centre.
While the Constitution provides the governor discretionary powers, such powers can only be used after ascertaining all facts. Unfortunately, Rao decided to not even engage with the ruling party in Tamil Nadu. If Sasikala’s disproportionate wealth case, which is coming up for judgment next week in the Supreme Court, is the reason for reluctance, the governor could have easily met Sasikala and expressed his opinion. That way, the swearing-in date could have been amicably fixed on a date after the judgement.
If Rao’s was unconvinced about the support for Sasikala, he could have sworn her in and asked for a test of strength in the Assembly.
Further, Rao also has the responsibility of hearing out Panneerselvam, who made the dramatic revelation on Tuesday that he resigned under duress.
Instead of acting on such responsibilities, Rao has delayed a crucial constitutional process and has thereby hurt the state administration.