AIADMK shows signs of midlife crisis in TN as it gasps for rightful heir

MGR and Jaya's legacy torn by dissent, rising dominance of BJP, and Stalin in the saddle

On March 25, 1989, the history of Tamil Nadu (TN) politics was in a sense rewritten when Jayaram Jayalalithaa’s sari was allegedly “pulled and torn” by a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) minister in the Assembly. Old-timers still remember a weeping Jayalalithaa vowing to return to the Assembly as chief minister (CM).

For a charismatic politician like Jayalalithaa, this battle was another set of struggles she had to face after the death of M G Ramachandran (MGR) in 1987, when the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was split into two factions — one supporting MGR’s wife Janaki Ramachandran, the other