Reporter's Diary: Politics is all about riding the popular wave!

CHENNAI: As the topic of single leadership has emerged in AIADMK camp, the supporters of both party co-coordinator O Panneerselvam, and leader of the opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, are now monitoring the TV channels, newspapers, and social media to know who is attracting more public sentiments and the cadre support.

The AIADMK workers, especially with the IT wing, are also actively monitoring public comments to gauge political intelligence and mood of the cadres. The situation is such that a few senior AIADMK office bearers have been reaching out to their friends among journalists covering the AIADMK-beat, and enquiring about the party cadre’s mood.

The scribes are also asked to interact with the cadres regularly so that the ground reality is ascertained.

Joining the issue, ousted AIADMK leader KC Palaniswami has also launched a Twitter campaign asking the cadres to get in touch with him and share their views that can potentially unite the party and not depend on any alliance with the BJP.

Interestingly, the AIADMK’s official mouthpiece News J channel is silent on the subject and has been distancing itself from the ongoing factional feud between team OPS and EPS. However, for Jaya TV, known for its pro-Sasikala stand, there are regular updates and bulletins on the ongoing factional feud.

‘Make hay while the sun shines’ seems to be the situation for the TV. “The weakness of dual leadership, need for a strong leader to fight DMK, revamp for AIADMK due to defeat in polls” are some of the topics discussed by the anchors of Jaya TV.