The AIADMK (Amma) on Thursday revolted against the Sasikala clan by deposing both VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran from their respective posts and prepared the ground for the merger of the EPS and OPS factions.
A meeting of top office bearers of the AIADMK (Amma) led by chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who is also the party headquarters secretary, announced that the party was now being piloted by the office bearers appointed by Jayalalithaa since Sasikala was unable to function as general secretary and her appointment has also been challenged before the Election Commission.
The meeting also invalidated the appointment of Dhinakaran as deputy general secretary - he was appointed by Sasikala before she went to jail in the wealth case in February. “Since Dhinakaran’s appointment was not legally valid, all the appointments made by him recently were also not valid. Similarly his instructions need not be followed by party cadres or functionaries,” said the statement signed by 27 office bearers led by EPS.
The statement also declared that party cadres would not like to see anyone other than Jayalalithaa as general secretary which amounts virtually disowning Sasikala’s temporary appointment as general secretary in December 2016 after Jayalalithaa’s death. Strangely the statement was printed and signed on the original AIADMK letter head and not that of AIADMK (Amma) implying that it was the decision of the original undivided AIADMK and not just one of its factions.
Speaking to reporters finance minister D. Jayakumar hoped that the present move will soon lead to the merger, since OPS had made the total sidelining of the Sasikala family as a precondition for merger. The merger is likely to take place before August 15 and both EPS and OPS, who will be in Delhi for Venkaiah Naidu’s swearing in as Vice-president on Thrhursday evening are expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi together and formally announce their decision.
Thursday’s developments is nothing but a total revolt against the Saskiala family and a deliberate counter attack against Dhinakaran’s attempts to take control of the party.
“If we had not taken this step Dhinakaran would have continued to undermine the authority of the chief minister and caused greater confusion in the party,” said a senior minister.
In February, Sasikala was found guilty of corruption by the Supreme Court and was sentenced to four years in prison. She is barred from contesting an election for the next 10 years.
Before her arrest, then chief minister Panneerselvam was locked in a power tussle with Sasikala sparking a political crisis on who will be late J Jayalalithaa’s successor.
Events took a dramatic turn in the evening of February 7, when Panneerselvam announced that he was forced to resign by Sasikala on February 5 for the latter to take over.
Panneerselvam, who claims Jayalalithaa (Amma) told him to take over as CM when she was in hospital, said her spirit later told him that he should come out and tell the truth to the people of Tamil Nadu.
