Tamil Nadu: V K Sasikala cannot ‘shake’ AIADMK, says Edappadi K Palaniswami

SALEM: Leader of the opposition and AIADMK joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday said V K Sasikala would not succeed in undermining the AIADMK leadership or unsettling the party founded and nurtured by leaders like M G Ramachandran or J Jayalalithaa. Palaniswami, who had chosen to ignore Sasikala and her phone diplomacy with AIADMK cadres after passing a resolution against her last month, told reporters in Salem that she was “deliberately spreading lies” in an attempt to destabilise the party and create confusion. But her attempts would not succeed, he said.
Reacting to Sasikala’s remarks to a cadre during a phone conversation that had they all been together, the AIADMK would not have been defeated in the April assembly election, Palaniswami retorted: “Wasn’t she in the AIADMK in 1996? (when the party was routed in the assembly election that year). Wasn’t she in the party in 2006 as well? (when the party lost the assembly election again to the DMK). She is deliberately spreading lies. However many lies she spreads, she cannot defeat the AIADMK.”
On June 17, Palaniswami was among the first to pass a resolution against his former leader, condemning her attempts to take over the party reins. The resolution categorically stated that Sasikala had nothing to do with the AIADMK and that the party would not be sacrificed to cater to the whims of one family. “She says she was an adviser to MGR and Amma (Jayalalithaa). It is ridiculous. She is spreading canards. No one in the party will believe this, Palaniswami said.
In a recent conversation with a partyman, Sasikala stated she had advised Jayalalithaa on the need to ensure unity of the party when the AIADMK split in the wake of MGR’s death in December 1987. In her telephone call to a cadre in Tuticorin, Sasikala said she had travelled with “thalaivar (MGR)” which was not known to many. “He had sought many details on party affairs. I had patiently explained things happening in the party,” she said.
In a recent call to an AIADMK cadre, Sasikala explained that she decided to “step back” from politics after her return from the Bengaluru prison because she believed the claims of EPS and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam that they would win 150 seats in the assembly election. But after the party’s defeat, she decided to come back and strengthen the party, she said.