Sasikala doles out party posts to keep senior leaders in fold
CHENNAI: In a bid to assuage dissenting voices among the second rung leadership, AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala on Friday appointed 13 organizing secretaries for the party. Those who have come back to limelight include veterans and former ministers K A Sengottaiyan, Gokula Indira and B V Ramana and former Chennai mayor Saidai S Duraisamy. In all, 23 new senior functionaries including nine former ministers were appointed on Friday.
Many of them have substantial cadre base in their respective regions. Sengottaiyan is perhaps the most influential AIADMK leader among the cadres as he has organized every programme that Jayalalithaa attended since 1991, when she became chief minister for the first time. He had fallen out of favour with Jayalalithaa after his family members preferred a complaint against him. Supporters of Sengottaiyan, especially from the Kongu region, had sought to drum up support for making him the party general secretary immediately after Jayalalithaa's demise. But, it fizzled out when he turned up at Poes Garden and persuaded Sasikala to take up the mantle. Sengottaiyan's growing clout was visible even in the recently concluded assembly session as he was made to move the motion of thanks to Governor's address.
Most leaders who have been rehabilitated now were sidelined by Jayalalithaa in the last few years owing to adverse intelligence reports. Some were bench sitters for more than 10 years. For instance, former minister Nainar Nagendran had fallen out of favour with Jayalalithaa in 2006. She has heeded to pulls and pressures from within her family also while accommodating some of them. Nagendran owes his allegiance to TTV Dinakaran, Sasikala's nephew. Her husband M Natarajan influenced the appointment of K Kuppan, a former MLA, as joint secretary in the fisheries wing of the party. Minister D Jayakumar, who was sidelined by Jayalalithaa during the 2011-2016 period, has been appointed fisheries wing secretary .
Saidai Duraisamy faced the wrath of the party leader after reports of corruption emerged in 2014.It was a surprise then that he was allowed to complete his term as mayor. His name was missing when the party put out a list of candidates for the local body polls in September with Jayalalithaa's nod.
Sasikala has also appointed Karupasamy Pandian, a party hopper from Tirunelveli, as organizing secretary. Sasikala's jugglery is also aimed at keeping a fine balance of caste matrix within the party at a time Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar is planning to carry out a state-wide tour. The forthcoming local body polls are bound to give jitters to the ruling camp as it could be a litmus test for Sasikala's leadership.
"These appointments were inevitable. It is an indication of how strong the anti-Sasikala camp was in the party . It is also to keep leaders, who enjoy considerable clout in the districts, in the fold," said a senior AIADMK leader.
Many of them have substantial cadre base in their respective regions. Sengottaiyan is perhaps the most influential AIADMK leader among the cadres as he has organized every programme that Jayalalithaa attended since 1991, when she became chief minister for the first time. He had fallen out of favour with Jayalalithaa after his family members preferred a complaint against him. Supporters of Sengottaiyan, especially from the Kongu region, had sought to drum up support for making him the party general secretary immediately after Jayalalithaa's demise. But, it fizzled out when he turned up at Poes Garden and persuaded Sasikala to take up the mantle. Sengottaiyan's growing clout was visible even in the recently concluded assembly session as he was made to move the motion of thanks to Governor's address.
Most leaders who have been rehabilitated now were sidelined by Jayalalithaa in the last few years owing to adverse intelligence reports. Some were bench sitters for more than 10 years. For instance, former minister Nainar Nagendran had fallen out of favour with Jayalalithaa in 2006. She has heeded to pulls and pressures from within her family also while accommodating some of them. Nagendran owes his allegiance to TTV Dinakaran, Sasikala's nephew. Her husband M Natarajan influenced the appointment of K Kuppan, a former MLA, as joint secretary in the fisheries wing of the party. Minister D Jayakumar, who was sidelined by Jayalalithaa during the 2011-2016 period, has been appointed fisheries wing secretary .
Saidai Duraisamy faced the wrath of the party leader after reports of corruption emerged in 2014.It was a surprise then that he was allowed to complete his term as mayor. His name was missing when the party put out a list of candidates for the local body polls in September with Jayalalithaa's nod.
Sasikala has also appointed Karupasamy Pandian, a party hopper from Tirunelveli, as organizing secretary. Sasikala's jugglery is also aimed at keeping a fine balance of caste matrix within the party at a time Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar is planning to carry out a state-wide tour. The forthcoming local body polls are bound to give jitters to the ruling camp as it could be a litmus test for Sasikala's leadership.
"These appointments were inevitable. It is an indication of how strong the anti-Sasikala camp was in the party . It is also to keep leaders, who enjoy considerable clout in the districts, in the fold," said a senior AIADMK leader.
