Sasikala Natarajan was found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison in the Disproportionate Assets (DA) case by the Supreme Court in 2017.
AIADMK leaders met at headquarters even as coronavirus cases held steady in Chennai, crafting a swift policy to stick together in the face of potential adversity and work to win the election next year.
- CNN-News18
- Last update: September 19, 2020 11:25 am IST
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Chennai: AIADMK is taking a defensive and disciplinary stance ahead of the return from prison of Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s trusted aide, just months before the four-year sentence for disproportionately accumulating wealth.
Party leaders met at headquarters even as coronavirus cases held steady in Chennai, crafting a swift policy to stick together in the face of potential adversity and work to win the election next year. If AIADMK wins again it would be a hat-trick for the match without Amma, but that would come only after a very tough fight by MK Stalin’s DMK, who has not entered Fort St. power) as a match. ruler for almost a decade. Clearly, the stakes are high.
Before long, party administrators O Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami said that the party’s executive committee will meet on September 28.
According to party informants, the return of VK Sasikala was discussed, but with the prospect that the storm that followed Jayalalithaa’s death is over and that the party has accumulated strength and kept its “military discipline” intact.
While the party follows an optimistic line, some fissures threaten to burst. Even on Friday, OPS was hailed as the heir to J Jayalalithaa’s political legacy, while Palaniswami was the “permanent” CM candidate.
Just a few weeks ago, the AIADMK found itself on the familiar ground of confusion: Party leaders were openly expressing their opinion on who the CM candidate should be. After what seemed like secret conversations, it seemed that Panneerselvam was satisfied with the terms offered. According to internal sources, the CM candidate for the next elections is a subject of great dispute.
In the stormy days of February 2017, when VK Sasikala appointed Palaniswami as the chief minister, the latter was putty on his hands. He even did the usual prostration in front of her, a video clip that the DMK has been taking to the core.
Now, the big question would be how the current AIADMK leadership would react when Sasikala is released from prison and makes proposals to his loyalists within the party. Friday’s meeting and import offer a hint: keep your head down and move on.
It remains to be seen which threads VK Sasikala would wear once she is out. Meanwhile, the DMK is watching.
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