Chennai, June 4 (UNI) AIADMK Joint Coordinator and Leader of
the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly Edappadi Palaniswami
on Friday said there was no room for expelled leader V K Sasikala
in the AIADMK.
Talking to reporters after holding a meeting with party district
Secretaries here, he said Ms Sasikala, who is the close-aide of
later Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, had already issued a statement
before the Assembly polls that she was keeping away from politics.
Asked about the recent audio featuring Sasikala in which she said
she would set right the AIADMK and guide it on the path shown by
late leaders MGR and Jayalalithaa, he said Ms Sasikala was not
in the AIADMK.
On Sasikala hinting of her returning to active politics in the leaked
audio conversations which went viral on the social media,
Mr Palaniswami said she (Sasikala) has been talking only to the
AMMK, formed by her nephew TTV Dhinakaran and not with the
AIADMK.
'The audio has been released in an attampt to create a confusion
in the AIADMK which has emerged as the strongest opposition
(after the April six Assembly polls)...it will not happen', he added.
The views of the AIADMK cadres was that Ms Sasikala should not
be in the party.
Asked about AIADMK Coordinator O Panneerselvam not present in
today's meeting, Mr Palaniswami denied any rift between them and
said he (OPS) is busy in shifting to his new house.
'Today being an auspicious day, I came to the party office', he said,
on his first visit to the party office after becoming the Leader of the
Opposition.
In the audio clip, Ms Sasikala has dropped enough hints of returning
to active politics after the Covid pandemic, at a time when AIADMK
had lost power in the recent polls.
In a phone conversation with one of the party cadres, which has gone
viral on social media, Ms Sasikala was heard confirming her plans of
her return in the politics.
"Do not worry, surely will sort out the party things. All be brave ok.
Once corona pandemic is over, I will come," Sasikala is heard telling
the cadre during the phone call.
Ms Sasikala has been staying in the city ever since she was released
from Bengaluru prison where she had served four year jail term after
her conviction in the disproportionate assets case.
After getting treated for COVID, she was discharged from Victoria
hospital in Bengaluru on January 31 after she was formally released
from prison on January 27.
In another audio clip, Sasikala was heard as saying that she was
disheartened to see the fights in the AIADMK, referring to the apparent
rift in the AIADMK between Mr Palaniswami and former Deputy CM
O Panneerselvam.
“We will make a decision shortly and come soon. Don’t worry. It
hurts to see them fight. We made this party grow with a lot of
difficulties so I cannot just watch it go to waste. Very soon
I will come. Once corona is over, I will meet everyone”, she
had said.
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