Asserting that even after 10 years, people of Tamil Nadu are with ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), state Chief Minister and party leader Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday appealed party workers to ensure AIADMK comes back to power after the Assembly polls.

Palaniswami said this is the first state assembly polls after the demise of former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa (Amma). AIADMK has been ruling the state for the past 10 years.

While addressing party workers here, Palaniswami said, “Everyone should unite and work together for upcoming polls. This is the first state assembly polls after Amma’s demise. We should make sure AIADMK comes back to power. Even after 10 years, people of Tamil Nadu are with AIADMK.” “Cadre should work together to ensure that the announced candidates emerged victoriously,” he added.

On Wednesday, expelled AIADMK leader VK Sasikala said she is “stepping aside” from politics and urged the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam cadres to stand united and ensure the defeat of rival DMK in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

In a statement here Sasikala said “I set myself apart from politics and pray for the golden rule of my Goddess Akka (Jayalalithaa). I will continue to pray for her vision always. I have neither desired for the position nor for authority.”

Tamil Nadu assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 6 and the counting of votes will be done on May 2. The term of the 15th legislative assembly in Tamil Nadu is ending on May 2, 2021. As many as 6,28,23,749 electors will choose candidates for the sixteenth legislative assembly in Tamil Nadu.

Ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is contesting the poll in a pre-poll alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). MK Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has joined hands with Congress. This time, actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan’s party Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) is also in the fray.

In the last Assembly elections held in 2016, the DMK won 80, Congress won just eight, AIADMK won 134 seats, BJP won 4 seats and the rest were won by other parties and independent candidates.

The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led front, which includes the Congress, had won 37 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu in 2019.