It’s an anniversary which Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy  and other members of the council of Ministers would prefer not to speak about. On Saturday, the AIADMK Government in Tamil Nadu completed four years in office and entered the last phase of the tenure of this Government. It was on May 23, 2016 , J Jayalalithaa, popularly known as Amma, took oath of office as Chief Minister for the second time in succession after returning to power single-handedly.

But the joy of the AIADMK cadre was short lived as Jayalalithaa breathed her last on December 5, 2016 and O Panneerselvam took over as the Chief Minister. He was eased out of office on February 6, 2017 as the fall out of a palace coup staged by V K Sasikala, the close aide of Jayalalithaa. Sasikala who was expected to sworn in as Chief Minister ended up in Parappana Agrahara Jail following the Supreme Court’s ratification of the Bangalore Special Court verdict sentencing her to four years imprisonment in the Disproportionate Asset Case.

Before she set out for Bangalore, Sasikala got Palaniswamy, her close confidante, elected as the chief minister. Within months of him swearing in as Chief Minister, Palaniswamy consolidated his hold over the Government and the party and threw out the Sasikala clan from all influential positions in the Government and party.

The initial days of Palaniswamy was enmeshed in uncertainty. MK Stalin, leader of opposition and DMK’s working president, used to claim that the Government was on  life-support system and it would fall down anytime.

The 18 MLAs who cast their lots with  the Sasikala clan were disqualified by the Speaker. The disqualification was upheld by the Madras High Court as well as Supreme Court. In the ensuing by-election, the AIADMK managed to win 11 out of the 24 constituencies that went to the polls in three phases.

A Government which was described by many political pundits as a sitting duck became strong as months went by and is almost certain that it would complete the present term without any hiccups.  

Opinions are divided about the achievements of the government which came to office in 2016. “By and large, the performance of Palaniswamy Government was satisfactory though it is difficult to compare it with the one led by Jayalalithaa. The overall functioning was reasonable but whatever good will they got during the last four years got tarnished because of the poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic,” said T Ramakrishnan, leading political commentator and author.

He said though the Palaniswamy government had managed to put up a good show during the initial days of the pandemic, it lost track somewhere and things went out of control.

 “The four-day close down starting from April 26 ordered by the Government did irreparable damage and Tamil Nadu was not the same again,” said Ramakrishnan.

K A Johny, political columnist and commentator is of the view that the Palaniswamy Government was a miserable failure on all counts from day one. “Jayalalithaa stood out because od the interventions she made in the everyday life of common man. The Amma restaurants, mineral water, shops selling fruits, vegetables and medicines initiated by her are in doldrums now as the Palaniswamy government failed to sustain the momentum. It was a fight for day-to-day survival and there is no hope for this Government,” said Johny.

But Kolahala Srenivaas, political commentator who is also known as political astrologer, is of the view that the AIADMK has managed the coronavirus pandemic effectively. “Ground reality is different. The DMK had to swallow its allegations of scam and corruption in the purchase of testing materials for coronavirus.

Moreover the statements issued by DMK leaders like R S Bharati and Dayanidhi Maran humiliating the Dalits has alienated the party from the latter,” said Srenivaas. He was assertive that AIADMK could not be written off despite the absence of a charismatic leader  like Jayalalithaa.The next 11 months will see a lot of action as the AIADMK and the DMK are likely to employ a lot of tricks to outsmart each other, said Ramakrishnan.