Sasikala not a member of our party, those talking to her not our cadre, says AIADMK leader

Faced by multiple leaked audio clips of former Jayalalithaa aide Sasikala's purported conversation with cadre, AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan claimed that she did not belong to the 'two leaves party' and that she had no rights to revive AIADMK. Over the past week, multiple leaked audio clips of Sasikala's purported conversations with the AIADMK cadre have surfaced triggering speculations of her return to the party fold. AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan, on Saturday, maintained that Sasikala belonged to her nephew TTV Dhinakaran's Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and that she had no locus standi in talking about the revival of AIADMK and claimed that those who were communicating with her did not belong to the two leaves party. 

'Sasikala not a member of our party': AIADMK leader

AIADMK calls for meeting amid tape leaks

Faced by multiple leaked audios of former Jayalalithaa aide Sasikala's purported conversations with its cadre, the AIADMK has called for a meeting with its MLAs at the party headquarters on Monday. Moreover, AIADMK will also finalise the Deputy Leader of Opposition (LoP) and the party's whip alongside deliberating on the leaked audio tapes, after ex-Deputy CM O Panneerselvam (OPS) stormed out of the last meeting where ex-CM E Palaniswami (EPS) was voted as LoP. Since then, OPS has softened his stance towards Sasikala, deliberating a re-entry while EPS has denied any possible return of Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran.

In March, a month after she was released from prison, Sasikala quit politics urging the AIADMK cadre to unite ahead of the polls and fight the DMK to 'continue Amma's AIADMK rule in Tamil Nadu for 100 years. Thanking the cadres for the love they showered on her, she announced that she will quit politics and will always pray to Amma and God to keep her golden rule alive. DMK managed to trump AIADMK, denying AIADMK a 3rd consecutive term in the recently concluded Tamil Nadu polls.

The AIADMK factions - split & merger

In 2016, after the demise of then-CM J Jayalalitha, her close aide Sasikala had taken over as general secretary but was later convicted and arrested in the disproportionate assets case. O Pannerselvam (OPS) - the then-deputy CM, quit as caretaker CM to make way for Sasikala. With his exit, EPS, who was chosen by Sasikala, was made the CM, which led to the party being split in the middle - EPS camp and OPS camp. Amid the impasse, the BJP had intervened to allow EPS to continue as CM and made OPS the party's Convenor, Deputy CM, naming the late Jayalalitha as the party's 'eternal' General Secretary. The convicted Sasikala was then thrown out of the party. Sasikala was released from Bengaluru prison on January 27, after completing her 4-year jail stint and she returned to Chennai.