AIADMK firm: Sasikala & kin can’t return to party, says CM
The grandiose roadshow that marked the return of expelled AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala from jail on Monday and her clarion call for unity have not made any impact on the party leadership, who remain firm on not reinstating her or any of her family members.
Sasikala is also silent, though she is meeting leaders of the AMMK, the party launched by her nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran after he was thrown out of the AIADMK, at her niece Krishana Priya’s house in Chennai’s T Nagar, where she is staying.
Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami, speaking at a campaign event on Wednesday, categorically said there was no scope for anyone expelled from the party to rejoin it. In an indirect reference to Sasikala, he said it would not allow the domination of any family in the party. Only a party worker could become CM, he added.
The grandiose roadshow that marked the return of expelled AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala from jail on Monday and her clarion call for unity have not made any impact on the party leadership, who remain firm on not reinstating her or any of her family members without heeding to her call.
Sasikala, on her part, is also silent though she has been meeting functionaries of the AMMK, the party launched by her nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran after he was thrown out of the AIADMK, and others at the house of her niece Krishana Priya in T Nagar, where she is now put up.
But chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, speaking at a campaign meeting in Krishnagiri on Wednesday, categorically stated that there was no scope for any one expelled from the party to rejoin it. In an indirect reference to Sasikala, he said that they would not allow the domination of any family in the party.
Only a party worker could become Chief Minister and a single family’s control on the party would not be tolerated, said Palaniswami, who had openly hit out at Dhinakaran on Tuesday night, pointing out that he was thrown out of the party by J. Jayalalithaa.
There was a conspiracy to capture the AIADMK and whatever Mr Dhinkaran did he would not be able to pull it off, he said and called upon the party cadre to help realise the dreams of MGR and Jaya.
Reacting to rumours that Mr Palaniswami and Sasikala were planning to meet, fisheries minister D. Jayakumar clearly said that there was no scope for it in this lifetime. He was speaking to media persons at Saidapet on Wednesday morning.
Making a firm stand on not heeding to the call for unity, he said the ‘common enemy’ mentioned by Sasikala was the AIADMK party, to which both the Sasikala group and the DMK were pitted against.