Mannargudi mafia down but not out in Tamil Nadu

SASIKALA — A LONGTIME CONFIDANTE OF FORMER AIADMK SUPREMO AND CM J JAYALALITHAA — IS SERVING A FOURYEAR JAIL TERM FOR AMASSING ILLGOTTEN WEALTH

She will remain Chinnamma or mom’s younger sister, never the Amma or mother she strives to be, said an AIADMK leader on Tuesday, revealing the undercurrent against VK Sasikala, the jailed general secretary of Tamil Nadu’s ruling party.

The 61-year-old Sasikala — a long-time confidante of former AIADMK supremo and chief minister J Jayalalithaa — is serving a four-year jail term for amassing ill-gotten wealth.

But she still wields power by proxy in Tamil Nadu through her extended clan, which her rivals call the Mannargudi Mafia. She appointed nephew TTV Dinakaran as her deputy, and loyalist Edapaddi Palaniswami as chief minister before she went to jail.

Born in Mannargudi, about 320km south of Chennai, and married to a lowly-paid public relations officer, Sasikala’s life changed when Jayalalithaa took her under her wings and she moved into the leader’s Poes Garden home, a nerve-centre of power in the southern state.

She primarily managed the household of Jayalalithaa. But detractors accuse her of being much more than a housekeeper, as her relatives, who moved out of Mannargudi, began exerting influence on police, bureaucracy and businesses.

Jayalalithaa threw her out in 2011, but took her back after a brief exile. She remained the AIADMK’s leader’s so-called conscience keeper until her death last December.

The death triggered a bitter power struggle and split the party as Chinnamma, as Sasikala is called, tried to step into Amma’s shoes. The mutiny of ousted chief minister O Panneerselvam, who held the top post briefly after Jayalalithaa’s death, was crushed. But her conviction in the corruption case changed the dynamics.

“Her greed, impatience and lust for power brought her downfall,” said an AIADMK leader.

Another revolt is now brewing against Sasikala and her family as ministers and lawmakers from her faction are pushing for a merger of the two groups.

The first signs of trouble were visible when chief minister Palaniswami sat over Sasikala’s recommendations for bureaucratic postings and transfers. He stonewalled demands of Dinakaran, the party’s deputy general secretary, for an inquiry into corruption allegations against Panneerselvam. “Sasikala should have been the power behind the throne. Had she allowed OPS (Panneerselvam) to continue and kept the real power to herself, it would have been smooth,” another party leader said.