What the doctor has prescribed for Panneerselvam
Trust a doctor to spot the early signs of an attack. Dr Vasudevan Maitreyan, the Rajya Sabha MP of the AIADMK, was the first prominent leader of the party to head to O Panneerselvam's residence at Greenways Road in Chennai on Tuesday night, within an hour of the chief minister's dramatic revolt.
In the last five days, the diminutive oncologist has prescribed that Panneerselvam continue with the political chemotherapy on the AIADMK, despite the side effects.
Even as AIADMK is now in the ICU, Team Panneerselvam says it was important to be a disruptive force in the larger interest of the party. Maitreyan says he was quick to realise that Panneerselvam can be trusted to carry forward Jayalalithaa's legacy. "I am going with the side that takes forward Amma's legacy," he explains.
Those who know Maitreyan say he is just what the doctor ordered for Panneerselvam. Because by virtue of his long years outside of Tamil Nadu, he has connections with politicians across the spectrum.
But what is critical is his equation with the BJP. He has been associated with the RSS and was part of the BJP from 1990 to 1999, serving first as general secretary, then vice-president and finally president of the Tamil Nadu unit, before quitting to join the AIADMK.
It is perhaps because of his membership of the BJP alumni association, that Maitreyan was among the two AIADMK leaders - the other being Thambidurai - handpicked by Jayalalithaa to keep channels open with Narendra Modi. The duo travelled to Gujarat in 2014 as Jaya's representatives to call on Modi. Maitreyan also made all arrangements for Jayalalithaa's visit to Gujarat to attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony in December 2012.
However, Maitreyan found himself out in the cold after the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 when he was removed by Jayalalithaa as leader of the AIADMK party in the Rajya Sabha. Sources blamed it on his intra-parliamentary party rivalry with Thambidurai.
Maitreyan is candid enough to admit that his presence by Panneerselvam's side has made people suspect this is a BJP-backed operation. What reinforces the doubt is the time taken by Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao, who was the Union minister of state for home in AB Vajpayee's team, to solve the stalemate because the delay only helps Panneerselvam. VK Sasikala has accused that the Governor's procrastination is aimed at engineering a split in the party.
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| Those who know Maitreyan say he is just what the doctor ordered for Panneerselvam. |
Maitreyan speaks flawless Hindi, the result of having spent time in Nagpur, the city where he studied for an MBBS degree at Government Medical College in the 1970s. "Without spending a penny," he adds. But the Nagpur connection only reinforces the suspicion about his saffron leaning and as he jokes, the "khaki knicker identity".
Rewind a month back to the India Today South conclave in Chennai where Maitreyan mockingly described Panneerselvam to me as the "new old CM". It was very obvious that no one took Panneerselvam, given his servile disposition, seriously or treated him with much respect.
The mask was off Panneerselvam after a 40-minute meditation at Jayalalithaa's memorial. The world realised it was a pre-meditated revolt by a man who had all along hid an iron fist beneath his velvet glove.
What does Maitreyan bring to Panneerselvam's table? For one, as a well-known face outside of Tamil Nadu and in the corridors of power in Delhi, he brings a certain credibility. Two, as one of the few partymen articulate in English, he can present Panneerselvam better before television viewers. Three, his networking skills help enormously in back channel talks.
Like Jayalalithaa, Maitreyan is an Iyenger Brahmin, a caste which would usually be considered a political liability in Tamil Nadu. But what binds him to Panneerselvam is the Jayalalithaa photograph that finds space in their shirt pockets. By January, after Sasikala's election as general secretary of the party, many AIADMK leaders had replaced the solo picture of Jayalalithaa with one that included both Amma and Chinnamma.
But not Maitreyan. When I asked him when he is following suit, he said "for all you know, I too may have to follow suit and keep photographs of both Amma and Chinnamma''. Little did he, I or anyone else know that picture abhi baaki hai. Not only that, he no longer refers to Sasikala as Chinnamma.
I ask Maitreyan about his equation with Panneerselvam. "He is a friend, a colleague," he replies.
"Is he your 2 am friend," I ask. "No, he is not. The 2 am friend is someone else," he replies.
He tells me who it is but requests not to mention the name lest it embarrass the politically very powerful person.