Nanjil Sampath meets Sasikala Natarajan, rejoins AIADMK

Chennai: AIADMK spokesperson Nanjil Sampath returned to the party on Saturday after meeting party general secretary Sasikala Natarajan at her Poes Garden bungalow, four days after announcement retirement from politics. He found Chinnamma to be kind and democratic, Sampath told Puthiya Thalaimurai TV channel later.

Efforts to contact the firebrand podium speaker were unsuccessful as his phone appeared to be switched off. In his TV interview, Sampath said he felt he got total freedom after meeting Chinnamma.

“She said come, I was expecting you. She said I can be myself and work as I wish and gave me that freedom. Even though I wrote a letter highly criticising her, she was willing to accept me. I see the heights of democratic spirit in her”, he said.

When he quit the AIADMK and retired from politics after surrendering the car gifted to him by Jayalalithaa, Sampath had declared (on January 3) that he was unsure about the freedom he would get under Sasikala's leadership.

“If Sasikala alone is qualified to become the leader, I do not have the qualification to accept her as my leader”, he had then said. But now in his TV interview after meeting Sasikala, he said he had complete faith in her leadership and political acumen, particularly after seeing the competent manner in which she handled the jallikattu issue, which made the opposition realise that she cannot be taken lightly. Besides, she has won the hearts of party members by her warm interactions with them.

“She has the physical stamina and enthusiasm to function in the place of Amma. She will prove the party's glory in future,” he has said. He said he had gone to meet Chinnamma after his well-wishers and senior AIADMK functionaries urged him to do so. And when he met her, he was stunned by her kindness and generosity.

“She asked me why I returned the car gifted by Amma. She said she would have sent the car back to me if I had not met her today. I was deeply touched. I told her I would work in a way that would delight her and the party cadre”, said Sampath, who had migrated to the AIADMK in 2012. He had begun his political career in the DMK and walked out with Vaiko when the latter launched the MDMK in 1993.