Chinnamma's men insist she remains in command

Chennai: While the two AIADMK factions are all set to unite on Monday, the followers of jailed 'interim' general secretary Sasikala Natarajan insist she is “still in command” and the OPS-EPS merger “means nothing”.

“The AIADMK can only be where Chinnamma is. It will not matter even if the Election Commission decides against her being the general secretary, we will still go to the courts”, thundered Sasikala's brother V. Dhivakaran, in an interview given to News18 channel.

“Chinnamma alone can establish (run) the party, no one else can do that… Even when the party symbol was frozen by the EC (during the post-MGR tussle between Jayalalithaa and Janaki), it was my brother-in-law Natarajan who managed to deftly retrieve it. Even now, only he is capable of getting the symbol back”, Dhivakaran said.

He said Sasikala had acted in 'haste' when bidding for the position of general secretary soon after Jayalalithaa's demise. “I had told Chinnamma not to do that but she acted in haste and took it up. Now she is suffering only because she ignored my advice. And some traitors slipped in the term 'interim' before the post of general secretary, which made things worse for her, said the brother, who emerged from the 'exile' imposed in 2011 by Jayalalithaa, only after her demise in November last year.

“Amma (Jayalalithaa) had expelled us (Dhivakaran and Natarajan) due to the conspiracy of some traitors but even then, we were helping the party at crucial times”, Dhivakaran said.

He said TTV Dhinakaran, his nephew, too acted in haste in deciding to contest in the RK Nagar Assembly by-election. “I had told him not to contest but he went ahead. That was a mistake”.

“We are demonstrating our strength at one rally after another, starting with Melur in Madurai. We will soon show this at Chennai. All this only proves that the party cadres are with us”, Dhivakaran said. He also alleged there was high corruption in the Edappadi government.