Hoardings hailing Sasikala defaced in several places

A day after it was put up, a poster showing former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with her close aide Sasikala was found splattered with ink, in Erode on Monday.

Even as posters and hoardings hailing late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s confidante V.K. Sasikala and urging her to take up the post of AIADMK general secretary have come up across Tamil Nadu, her image was found defaced on Tuesday in Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Erode and a few other places.

Hoardings asking Sasikala to take up the mantle, put up by her supporters, were defaced with tar by unidentified persons at the Head Post Office and T.V.S. Tollgate areas in Tiruchi.

AIADMK functionaries, who had put up the banners, swiftly removed the defaced hoardings.

Some posters hailing Ms.Sasikala put up by some AIADMK functionaries were also found torn or pulled down in a few places in Kumbakonam and Thanjavur.

In Erode, a poster hailing Ms. Sasikala put up at the busy GH Junction was found defaced. The poster was put by Environment Minister K.C.Karuppannan, Erode West MLA and AIADMK Erode Urban Secretary KV Ramalingam and Erode East MLA KS Thennarasu. The party removed the poster soon after the matter came to light.

No police case

In a related development, P. Kannan, an AIADMK member of Senthurai in Ariyalur district, put up banners in support of Deepa Jayakumar, niece of Jayalalithaa, urging partymen to back her to bring back the rule of Jayalalithaa.

“It is surprising that the Ministers and senior leaders are acting against the wish of Jayalalithaa. No true worker of the AIADMK will support Sasikala,” Mr. Kannan, a little-known functionary said. “The Ministers have failed to note that they have to knock on the doors of people to seek votes at one point of time,” Mr. Kannan said.

Meanwhile, the Tiruchi urban and rural district units of the AIADMK held separate meetings and adopted resolutions urging Ms.Sasikala to lead the party.