Brand EPS gets ‘SMS’ boost ahead of 2021 polls

The first team, which AIADMK seniors call as ‘SMS’, comprises political strategist Sunil Kanugolu, Palaniswami’s son Mithun Kumar and retired intelligence chief K N Satyamurthy. While Sunil is conducting field study and surveys through professionals not associated with the party, Sathyamurthy is giving intelligence inputs.

According to confidential AIADMK sources, the team also succeeded in a recent campaign stating that Sasikala would politically strike out on her own from a new address in Poes Garden, but this was not the fact. Even piling works have not been completed in the site. But the site made headlines and was now attached by the Income Tax department under the Benami Act. Sasikala might stay in a rented property and two addresses have almost been finalised, disclosed another AIADMK senior admitting that both EPS and OPS have started developing their own teams.

According to AIADMK insiders, the SMS team has become politically significant in the past few months creating another parallel powerhouse and the entire AIADMK IT wing has now come under it. “The team works to the extent of controlling the comments that follow after the tweet of political leaders. Earlier, one could spot comments openly in support of O Panneerselvam or AMMK leader Dhinakaran, but now there is no such trend, thanks to the team many are now supporting EPS on social media,” said a party insider adding that the SMS team may also handle the AIADMK campaign.

The second team is headed by Salem Elangovan, a loyalist of EPS, along with corporate houses in Namakkal, Erode, Coimbatore and Salem. Elangovan had emerged as a regional satrap in the Kongu region.

“The growth of Elangovan in the party is such that the MLAs are frequenting his office and residence. He is the chairman of Tamil Nadu State Apex Co-operative Bank. A corporate firm in Nammakal which was involved in an IT raid had also started working on strategies hoping for the continuation of the AIADMK government. The company also scrolls the corona awareness rhyming dialogue of the CM, which read “Vizithiru Vilagi Iru Veetileya Iru”, on its corporate website.

According to party HQ sources, the third important group is the political front, led by western region ministers, which include P Thangamani, S P Velumani, Udumalai Radhakrishnan and K A Sengottaiyan, representing the Goundar community to which the chief minister also belongs to.