A month after the AIADMK lost power in the Tamil Nadu election, expelled party leader V.K. Sasikala is all set to return to active politics. In a phone conversation with one of the party cadres, which was leaked to the media, Sasikala is heard confirming her plans to take the political plunge.
“You don’t worry at all. Sure. We will resolve all the problems in the party. I will come. I will definitely come. You take care and be safe,” Sasikala is heard telling a cadre during the phone call.
THE WEEK has confirmed that it is Sasikala’s voice through sources close to her family. The audio has been leaked at a time when the power tussle between the top leaders of the party—O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami—has once again started flowing out in the open.
Both Panneerselvam and Palaniswami have been giving out separate statements to the media on various issues, thus indicating that all is not well in the party. Both of them had flexed their muscles to be elected as the leader of opposition. Finally, after several rounds of meetings, Palaniswami won the fight, as most of the legislators were from the western region, where he had a strong support.
Apparently, the AIADMK, unlike under Jayalalithaa, is now seen as a party of a particular section of people in West Tamil Nadu, with Palaniswami's clout in the region. This, sources in the party say, has irked most of the seniors from South Tamil Nadu, thus making them look forward to the return of Sasikala, who hails from Mannargudi in the southern region.
Sasikala in the past few weeks has been talking to most of the party cadres over phone, hearing their grievances. Sources in her family say that her return is imminent. In fact, in 2017, minutes before she left for the Bengaluru prison, Sasikala had taken a vow at Jayalalithaa’s memorial that she would return to revive the party.
Sasikala had then chosen Palaniswami to lead the government. However, on her return, she felt betrayed by the same men who she had chosen to be at the helm of affairs. This made her wait for the right time to take the political plunge.
