India, May 13 -- The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), one half of the traditional Dravidian duopoly in Tamil Nadu politics, is currently facing one its worst crises. After a series of electoral defeats - including the recent assembly elections, where it came third - the party has split in all but name, with one faction led by Mailam MLA CV Shanmugam and the other by party general secretary and former chief minister (CM) Edappadi K Palaniswami (popular as EPS).

The crisis likely has more to with a very specific vacuum of leadership than the party's performance in the polls. For a long period in its history, the AIADMK was led by founder MG Ramachandran (popular as MGR) and J Jayalalithaa, who succeeded him as the party s...