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AIADMK expels its Karnataka in-charge for planning to meet Sasikala
Sasikala completed her four-year prison term in Bengaluru in the disproportionate assets case on January 27 while undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the city’s Victoria hospital; she is set to return to Chennai on February 7
AIADMK on Wednesday night removed its Karnataka secretary M P Yuvaraj for ‘bringing disrepute to the party’ by “trying to meet VK Sasikala”.
AIADMK has been cracking down on supporters of Sasikala, a close aide of former Tamil Nadu chief minister late J Jayalalithaa. In the past week, since Sasikala was released from jail, the party has sacked several functionaries for putting up posters welcoming her as the ‘party general secretary’. The party had expelled Sasikala in 2017.
“He tried to meet Sasikala,” said a senior AIADMK leader seeking anonymity. “We got to know that he has been planning for the past two days; that is wrong.”
Sasikala is set to return to Chennai on February 7. She completed her four-year prison term in Bengaluru in the disproportionate assets case on January 27 while undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the city’s Victoria hospital. After discharge, she is under quarantine in a resort in Bengaluru.
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Tamil Nadu chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami made it clear in January, after his meeting with PM Narendra Modi, that the party will not take back Sasikala. Following which, the AIADMK issued an unofficial gag order to party members not to speak about Sasikala. However, their silence broke when Sasikala left the hospital in a car bearing the AIADMK flag which, they said, is illegal.
After Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, Sasikala was elected the party general secretary. She was set to become the chief minister but, after her imprisonment, the warring factions of Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam united. In 2017, they expelled Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran who had launched a breakaway faction- Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam. The election commission also recognised the Palaniswami government as the true AIADMK which Sasikala plans to challenge on her return. AMMK cadre are planning a grand welcome for Sasikala from the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border all the way to Chennai’s T Nagar where she plans to reside.
