Thirunavukkarasu tries to wrest control of AIADMK from Jayalalitha

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

With the prospects of a snap poll for the Lok Sabha receding with the advent of I K Gujral, it is back to the days of shadow-boxing in the opposition AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. The simmering feud between party supremo Jayalalitha and her immediate deputy S Thirunavukkarasu that had been put in the cold with the fall of the Deve Gowda regime is back to the fore again.

''It's back to the future,'' says an AIADMK functionary, referring to the cold war between Jayalalitha and Thirunanavukkarasu for taking the control of the AIADMK. ''Jayalalitha wants to retain all the control she already has over the party, and Thirunavukkarasu would like to wrest it from her. But neither side wants to accept it in public, and for obvious reasons,'' adds the source.

For starters, Jayalalitha is known to have orally instructed all the district party functionaries not to invite her one-time confidant and ministerial colleague for addressing public meetings. Nor would she like Thirunavukkarasu to entertain party cadres who visit him at his Madras home. Instead, she reportedly wants him to meet the cadres at the AIADMK headquarters.

Thirunavukkarasu, who was close to Jayalalitha during the M G Ramachandran days, had fallen out with her soon after MGR's death. ''She suspected Thirunavukkarasu of harbouring chief ministerial ambitions. With his return to the party-fold during the 1996 poll after running an outfit of his own for seven years, she now harbours similar suspicions. Thirunavukkarasu, in turn, has not done anything to mitigate her fears,'' a party source said.

With the DMK-led state government speeding up the process of Jayalalitha's prosecution with the appointment of three special courts through a special legislation, the former chief minister's camp apprehends that she will be jailed in at least some of the criminal cases against her. Under the law, any person imprisoned for two years and more on such grounds forfeits the right to context elections. Thirunavukkarasu, it is feared, might then step in and stake his claim to the party leadership.

''As if to make his ambitions clear, Thirunavukkarasu has been touring the districts in the last few months, decrying the corrupt ways and sycophancy of erstwhile ministerial colleagues and personal aides. He has been talking about the glorious days of the party under the late MGR, virtually ignoring Jayalalitha. Even when he speaks about Jayalalitha, it fools none,'' the leader says.

Even during the Budget session of the state assembly, Thirunavukkarasu made it a point to visit one district or the other at every available recess, to be back in the House whenever it discussed any important matter. ''Unlike her erstwhile ministers who are still with her in the party, Thirunavukkarasu does not carry any black-marks as he was not in power at the time. He is also accessible to the cadres. Because of his comparative clean image, and his swearing by MGR, there is a general acceptability,'' the AIADMK leader adds.

Jayalalitha is planning to tour the districts from June, when she hopes she would recover from her backache and attendant ailments. ''The idea is as much to check the growth of Thirunavukkarasu as to take on the government,'' says the party leader, adding as an afterthought, ''Who knows whether the tour will come through? Monsoon would have set in, and that will probably be used for cancelling the tour.'' The reference, of course, is to Jayalalitha's general hesitation in going to the people after the poll debacle, and finding reasons to justify the same.