AIADMK sacks 9 more party cadres for speaking to Sasikala ahead of her political comeback

AIADMK's crackdown on VK Sasikala's supporters intensified on Monday as it sacked 9 members of the party for speaking to the ousted leader over the phone. In statements issued by party coordinators O Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami, the AIADMK cadres have been warned against keeping contact with the dismissed party leaders based in Salem, Kallakurichi, and Thoothukudi districts. Multiple conversations of the former AIADMK general secretary have surfaced in the last few weeks in which she is heard promising a fresh bid to reclaim AIADMK post its debacle in the Assembly election. 

Here is AIADMK's official communique: 

Sasikala to resume political activities after lockdown

On her comeback trail, the late J Jayalalithaa's aide has been reaching out to lower-level and mid-level functionaries of AIADMK. Training guns on the present party leadership in these conversations, she has vowed to set the party right. Brandishing her political credentials, Sasikala recalled having given "advice" to AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran besides claiming credit for bridging the gap between the Janaki Ramachandran faction and the Jayalalithaa faction after MGR passed away.

In a big statement of intent recently, the ex-AIADMK general secretary declared that she will visit the late J Jayalalithaa's memorial in Chennai and all districts of TN after the COVID-19-induced lockdown ends. During her last visit before leaving for jail in February 2017, she set the political circles abuzz after she took a vow to "defeat the conspiracy, avenge the betrayal and endure the hardship" by thumping Jayalalithaa's grave thrice. However, former TN CM E Palaniswami ruled out the possibility of her having an impact on the party and accused the media of giving unnecessary hype to these conversations.

Political exile

On January 27, Sasikala was formally released from prison after serving a 4-year jail term in the Rs.66 crore disproportionate assets case. But, she was discharged from the Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru only on January 31 as she was undergoing treatment for the novel coronavirus. After receiving a raucous welcome on her return to Tamil Nadu, the ousted AIADMK leader declared that she would enter full-fledged politics soon.

However, in a sudden change of stance on March 3, she decided to step aside from politics to ensure that "all followers of Jayalalithaa stay together" to defeat DMK in the TN Assembly polls. In another interesting turn of events on March 24, the then TN Deputy CM O Panneerselvam made a U-turn by hinting at the possibility of re-inducting her in AIADMK. the intervention of OPS was perceived as a rebuff to E Palaniswami who refused to approve an alliance with the TTV Dhinakaran-led AMMK.