The ruling AIADMK has decided to hold its general council meeting on December 29 to elect the next general secretary of the party.
The party’s district secretaries who were asked to assemble at the party headquarters in Royapettah here on Friday evening were given the date of the general council meet. The district secretaries were also asked to assemble at the MGR Memorial on the Marina on Saturday to observe his death anniversary. “We were told that more instructions will be given on Saturday,” said a district secretary.
It is still not clear if V.K. Sasikala, who is being projected as the next leader of the AIADMK, will be at the MGR Memorial complex where her friend and former chief minister Jayalalithaa has also been buried.
“As far as we know, E. Madhusudhanan, the presidium chairman, will lead the delegation of party leaders at the MGR Memorial,” a party leader said.
“The party leaders have been made to fall in line. This can be gauged from the fact that the district secretaries and leaders of various wings of the party have endorsed her to be the general secretary. However, Ms. Sasikala has her doubts if the party cadre and public have accepted her. She is no match to Amma’s personality,” said an AIADMK leader, requesting anonymity. The indications, though, are that Ms. Sasikala would be favoured to become the next general secretary of the party, a post held by Jayalalithaa for three decades, another leader said.
Ms. Sasikala has refrained from appearing in public after her family’s show of strength at the Rajaji Hall when Jayalalithaa’s body was kept for the public to pay their last respects.
