: In yet another pitch to project V.K. Sasikala as a natural successor to late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, party veteran C. Ponnaiyan on Friday produced an old fixed deposit receipt in which the late leader had named her confidante Sasikala as her nominee.
Jayalalithaa had made an investment of Rs. 7 lakh with a private chit fund firm in 1991 and had mentioned Ms. Sasikala as ‘nominee’, said Mr. Ponnaiyan, who is also the party’s organising secretary. This is an indication that the former Chief Minister saw Ms. Sasikala as her political heir that time itself, he contended. It was not clear how Mr. Ponnaiyan secured the receipt of the fixed deposit or if it was given to him by someone in the Poes Garden household.
‘No differences in party’
Mr. Ponnaiyan, who has been in the party since the times of its founder M.G. Ramachandran, also said there were no differences in the party on who should lead it. According to him, though the party has been urging Ms. Sasikala to take over as the general secretary, she is yet to take a call.
Mr. Ponnaiyan was speaking outside Veda Nilayam, the residence of Jayalalithaa in Poes Garden.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and his Cabinet colleagues as well as former MLAs gathered at Poes Garden on Friday morning to observe the 11th day ceremony of Jayalalithaa’s death amidst tight security.
