‘Sasikala-for-CM’ chorus grows in AIADMK once again

After a lull, the ‘Sasikala-for-CM’ chorus is back in the ruling AIADMK with the convening of party MLAs’ meeting on Sunday. 

The camp of AIADMK General Secretary Sasikala is active with frequent meetings and rejigs in the party and the state bureaucracy after lying low during the Jallikattu protests. The legislators’ meeting takes place after Sasikala rehabilitated “sidelined and dissenting” senior leaders with party posts, sudden resignation of former Chief Secretary Sheela Balakrishnan as the government adviser, and shunting out of two other bureaucrats from the Chief Minister’s office. 

The sudden meeting has given credence to the speculation that Sasikala may take over the reins from O Panneerselvam who was appointed as Chief Minister in December after the demise of J Jayalalithaa. Though the AIADMK has not made any official announcement on the convening of MLAs’ meeting on February 5, senior party leaders and MLAs confirmed it. They, however, refused to reveal the agenda of the meeting. The last meeting of the legislators took place on January 27.

AIADMK Spokesperson C R Saraswathi when asked whether Sasikala will be elected as legislature party leader, she said that she was not aware of the agenda of the meeting. “Whatever decision will be taken, we will know only tomorrow,” she said. 

A legislator from southern Tamil Nadu said that the party had asked them to come for the meeting on Sunday afternoon without revealing the agenda. He, however, said that he would not be surprised if Sasikala was elected as legislature party leader in the meeting. “It is a matter of when she will take over as Chief Minister. She enjoys full support of the MLAs and party leadership at all levels,” he said. 

However, a former AIADMK minister dismissed the talk of Sasikala taking over from OPS as nothing but a speculation. He said the meeting was a follow-up to her move to win over the disenchanted grassroots-level party workers who are migrating towards Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar. “The main complaint of these workers was that they had not ‘benefited’ from the party’s government. She has asked the party MLAs to distribute contracts or sub-contracts to the junior office-bearers of the party,” he said.

The meeting, he said, would prevent the AIADMK cadres from gravitating towards Deepa who has promised to reveal her political plan on Jayalalithaa’s birth anniversary on February 24. 

After AIADMK’s top decision-making body — General Council — on December 29, appointed her as General Secretary, Sasikala took party’s charge on December 31 promising to take forward Jayalalithaa’s legacy. 

It may be noted that Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai and several AIADMK’s ministers, including RB Udhayakumar, has backed Sasikala for the Chief Minister’s post.

Leader of Opposition and DMK working president M K Stalin was quick to interpret Sheela Balakrishnan’s resignation as an indication of the beginning of a cold war between Panneerselvam and AIADMK leadership. “The state government’s administration has come to a standstill with the war between the Pannerselvam and AIADMK leadership. AIADMK leadership was keen to remove Panneerselvam while the bureaucrats were not able to function in his leadership opposing the ruling party,” he said in a statement. 

Tamil Nadu heads for a big change after the political vacuum created by the demise of AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa and ailing DMK President M Karunanidhi.  If Sasikala takes over the reins of the government, it will mark complete takeover of the AIADMK. However, it is to be seen whether Sasikala will be able to steer the party in the way Jayalalithaa did. In the case of DMK, Stalin was promoted as its working president. The Jallikattu uprising that lasted for over a week without any leadership was unheard of in the state’s political history.