Is EPS Becoming Another Vaiko?
### Is EPS Becoming Another Vaiko? Vaiko was once a compelling orator capable of captivating party cadres, yet he consistently failed to garner votes from the general public. Similarly, the former Chief Minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS), appears capable of securing the support of general council members and lower-level party workers, but struggles to translate that into support from the general electorate. Vaiko built his party from the ground up, managing to secure a small percentage of votes, which often made him a useful alliance partner. Consequently, his party, the MDMK, was frequently aligned with either the AIADMK or the DMK. However, as time progressed, a lack of a consistent, credible political stance caused his party’s popularity to wane; today, it rarely even contests elections under its own symbol. In contrast, EPS is the General Secretary of a major political organization, the AIADMK, which possesses a robust structure extending from the grassroots to the ministerial...