Tearing into AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Thursday charged that she had betrayed former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa by going back on her promise that she would never aspire for any post.
Reading from a copy of Ms. Sasikala’s apology letter written to Jayalalithaa in 2012 after which she was reinstated as a party member, the Chief Minister said she had stated she would never eye an MLA or an MP post.
“Now, Ms. Sasikala and those with her are trying to make the party and the government family property. People are now resolved to teach Sasikala a lesson,” Mr. Panneerselvam said, addressing his supporters at his residence here when AIADMK presidium chairman E. Madhusudhanan joined his camp. In 2012, he claimed that Jayalalithaa had asked the cadre and functionaries not to contact Ms. Sasikala.
Mr. Panneerselvam claimed that he had not spoken to Ms. Sasikala till Jayalalithaa was admitted in hospital in September 2016. Steps would be taken to convert the Poes Garden residence into a memorial, he promised.
In his speech, Mr. Madhusudhanan said since the death of Jayalalithaa, unknown people were trying to lead. “As days pass by, this party would go to aristocrats. It will lead to rowdy rajyam [jungle raj]. It was only to fight the rowdies that M.G. Ramachandran started the AIADMK,” he said.
Mr. Madhusudhanan said, “The people in R.K. Nagar [the constituency which elected Jayalalithaa] think that I may be fielded in the by-election, and therefore, are furious at me. I have joined OPS seeking redemption.”
