A month after the Supreme Court’s stamp of approval over his leadership, Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) formally graduated as its General Secretary, after being the interim general secretary of the 50-year old organisation for the past seven months.AIADMK founder and the late chief minister M G Ramachandran was the party’s first general secretary after he founded it in 1972. The late CM J Jayalalithaa was general secretary from 1989 to 2016 till her death. Her confidante VK Sasikala was elected interim general secretary post Jayalalithaa’s demise but she was later convicted and sentenced to a 4 year prison term in a graft case. Palaniswami has come a long way in the AIADMK, now the main opposition party and one that has ruled Tamil Nadu for over three decades. Beginning his political career as a branch secretary in 1974 at Siluvampalayam in Salem District, Palaniswami gradually rose through the ranks to become the interim party chief and he has held various party positions including that of district secretary and party headquarters secretary. He belongs to the Gounder community, dominant in western Tamil Nadu.In 1989, when the party split following founder M G Ramachandran’s death, he threw his weight behind the late Jayalalithaa and was first elected as a legislator in the polls held that year.A grass-roots level leader, 68-year old Palaniswami’s growth in the party in a career spanning close to 50 years has been steady. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998. The journey ahead to steer AIADMK to victory path is tough for him