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Expelled AIADMK leader VK Sasikala issues statement to say she is quitting politics, prays Amma government is establishe
Tamil Nadu goes to polls in single-phase on April 2 and the results will be announced on May 2.
Nearly a month ahead of assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader VK Sasikala on Wednesday announced her exit from politics. “I will step aside from politics and pray that Amma Government is established in Tamil Nadu,” she said in a statement.
She urged the AIADMK cadre to stand united and ensure the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK) is defeated in forthcoming assembly polls.
The announcement comes a day after Union home minister Amit Shah and Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami discussed the possible return of the late J Jayalalithaa’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran and her close aide Sasikala in AIADMK.
Dhinakaran told news agency ANI, "I tried my best to persuade her not to take this decision but to no avail... AMMK will contest this election under my leadership.
A BJP leader had earlier told HT that such a re-entry would prevent the split of anti-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam votes. “It seems to be a clash within the AIADMK but they seem to be softening on their stance. A formula will be worked out in a day or two,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sasikala had last week on the 73rd birth anniversary of Jayalalithaa had said, “My intention is that all of us have to be united to be victorious and govern again.” While the AIADMK had disowned Sasikala in 2017, she continued to identify herself as the party’s general secretary.
She returned to Chennai from Bengaluru after she was freed from jail after a four-year- sentence. During the last few days of her sentence, Sasikala was admitted to hospital as she tested positive for the coronavirus disease.
The southern state goes to polls in single-phase on April 2 and the results will be announced on May 2. The BJP and the ruling AIADMK are contesting together against the Congress-DMK combine to win across all 38 districts of the state.
This will be the first assembly election in Tamil Nadu after the death of Jayalalithaa who died in December 2016, a few months after winning the re-election that year. In the 2016 assembly elections, the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK became the first party to be re-elected since 1984.
