Chennai: Having ruffled the feathers of AIADMK head honchos through her parallel celebrations to mark the party’s 50th year of founding, the ousted general secretary of the party, V K Sasikala, is all set for the next course of action, which would be a roller coaster ride through the terrain of grassroots workers.
Her bid to mobilize her supporters, disgruntled AIADMK proponents and reclusive party exponents and make them rally around her with a view to overwhelming the present leadership and reclaim her lost position is likely to begin next Monday from her home town of Mannargudi in Thiruvarur district.
After having a brief discussion with family members in Mannargudi, Sasikala will be attending the wedding reception of TMMK founder T T V Dhinakaran’s daughter at Poondi on October 27. Starting her meetings with grassroots workers on October 28 in Tirunelveli, she would travel to Ramanathapuram the next day, take part in the Muthuramalinga Thevar anniversary at Pasumpon and then go to Thanjavur.
Though AIADMK head honchos had been expelling party cadre who were in touch with Sasikala as she launched the first phase of her operation to storm the party, by striking conversations with people over telephone, open support for her has not waned, which was evident from a MGR Youth Wing office-bearer in Ramanathapuram district writing to the Collector seeking protection for her when she visits Pasumpon.
After a series of telephonic conversations that were recorded and released in the social media, Sasikala started issuing regular statements with her photograph in the newspaper Dr Namadhu MGR, which was once the official organ of the AIADMK but now under the control of her family members.
The parallel golden jubilee celebrations was the first time Sasikala came out of her cloister and visited the memorials of M G Ramachandran (MGR) and J Jayalalithaa with jostling crowds of supporters accompanying her.
But the visit to the MGR memorial in T Nagar, which was marked by the installation of a plaque identifying her as the general secretary of the AIADMK, earned the wrath of AIADMK leaders, who have filed a police complaint against her for falsely claiming to be the general secretary when the courts and Election Commission have approved her removal.
Piqued by Sasikala’s antics, AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami launched a scathing verbal attack, in which he referred to a common Tamil maxim on barking at the sun, which in turn is said to have angered Sasikala.
Having realized the party honchos are in no mood to let her in otherwise, she now wants to go for the do or die battle by mobilizing her supporters and those who are disillusioned with the present leadership.
Meanwhile, Sasikala’s another nephew V N Sudhakaran, who, too, was imprisoned in Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara prison along with his two aunts – Sasikala and her sister-in-law Ilavarasi – in the disproportionate assets case, in which J Jayalalithaa was the first accused, has come out of jail and is waiting to join the brigade.
