Jayalalithaa holds the handbrake, OPS crashes Tamil Nadu

When Tamil Nadu's chief minister-in-name O Panneerselvam (OPS) took oath in October last year drowning in tears, the writing on the wall was plain. A number of bureaucrats and businessmen did a round of calls to say that it is now going to be a long holiday for the Tamil Nadu government. "You just wait and watch," said one senior bureaucrat. "No major files will move. All will be on hold until Amma gets a reprieve."  

And that has certainly come to pass. The chief minister-in-name calls upon the chief minister-in-absentia at her Poes Garden residence frequently. Jayalalithaa, convicted of holding Rs 54 crores worth of disproportionate assets during her first term as chief minister, is calling the shots in Tamil Nadu.

Chief secretary Gnanadesikan, hand-picked by the convict queen, rushes to Poes Garden with a car full of important files for her to look through and decide upon. Why, OPS himself announced in the state Assembly in December that it is Jayalalithaa who runs the state.  

But Jaya has more weighty matters on her mind. Her appeal hearing has begun in the Karnataka High Court and her lawyers are hoping to conclude the appeal within six months. If the High Court upholds the trial court's verdict, it will be another long journey in the Supreme Court. Desperation is writ large on their faces - if Amma does not get a reprieve, she cannot contest elections for ten long years, a move sure to spell political doom for her and her party. Worse, she gets to go back into jail.

Faced with such dark prospects, the state's future would remain a distant second in the priority list.  In all their collective wisdom, AIADMK MLAs, MPs and Ministers have understood that the only thing that can "save" the state is the return of the venerable Amma herself and hence busy themselves with daily rituals - offering prayers in temples, mosques and churches - and making it a point to post pictures on Facebook and Twitter. Maybe they should add OPS in their prayers too to help him kick-start some governance and play his role as chief minister.  

It is not simply the files that don't move. Crime is on the rise and a fierce summer looms, bringing with it power cuts and water shortage, thanks to the poor monsoon. Mere prayers for Amma's wellbeing would sadly not cut it in the coming months. We need governance and we need it now.  

After the Lok Sabha polls, Opposition parties have sunk into a sort of stupor in the state with many leaders holidaying abroad and putting up their feet. Seven months later, the most important Opposition parties, Karunanidhi's DMK, Vijaykanth's DMDK and the Congress are yet to come out of slumber and seize the situation. As a result, the people have not been heard on the topics of a milk price hike, electricity tariff hike and increasing layoffs and unemployment. The small protests which were held did not make a difference.  

While OPS and DMK chief Karunanidhi got into a letter-writing duel in which each accused the other of lethargy and hypocrisy on issues of price rise and sycophancy, that too has now subsided. Fort St George, home to the state Secretariat, is silent and wears a deserted look.  

"The bureaucracy is running the basic show but political leadership is not there," says political critic Gnani Sankaran. "Everything is wrong with Jayalalithaa running the state government and the party from behind the scenes as if it is a private limited company. It's not even a private limited company, it is sole ownership," he adds.

This political leadership would be crucial in the coming months as trouble looms over the Cauvery issue which usually gains traction in summer, the Mullaperiyar battle with Kerala and the spectre of unemployment as attractive sops being offered by the Andhra and Telangana governments woo industry away from Tamil Nadu. Large scale scams are coming out into the open now in Aavin (state milk corporation), TANGEDCO (state electricity corporation) and the Chennai civic corporation amongst others.

Decisive leadership is needed to put a firm stop to them and make governance transparent.  That, unfortunately, is what appears to be lacking in the absence of the omnipotent Amma. Perhaps chief minister OPS would go down in history as chief minister OOPS, not much more than a mild hiccup in a state of larger-than-life leaders!