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Sasikala: DMK doesn’t want me to reunite with AIADMK
“The DMK does not want the AIADMK and I to reunite. They want this status quo. I have been in politics for 38 years. And I know how to set everything right,” Sasikala said and went on to criticise Tamil Nadu governance under the DMK.
Former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) interim general secretary VK Sasikala on Sunday said the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) doesn’t want her to reunite with her party, and those saying that she cannot use the AIADMK flag are secretly supporting the ruling party.
Sasikala made these remarks at a wedding she attended in Tindivanm in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district, following which she spoke to reporters.
“The DMK does not want the AIADMK and I to reunite. They want this status quo. I have been in politics for 38 years. And I know how to set everything right,” Sasikala said and went on to criticise Tamil Nadu governance under the DMK.
On the AIADMK leadership having filed police complaints when she used the party flag after her release from prison in January 2021, Sasikala said, “Nobody has the right to tell me not to use the party flag. Those who are doing so are either associated with the DMK or those who are secretly helping the DMK.”
Sasikala added that she would urge party cadres to instead focus their time on the benefit of the AIADMK.
The DMK are yet to react on the issue.
Since her release from a four-year jail term in Bengaluru in connection with a disproportionate assets case, Sasikala has tried to reclaim her position in the AIADMK, but in vain. The former chief minister and AIADMK’s joint coordinator Edappadi Palaniswami has completely stonewalled her, while party coordinator O Pannerselvam has now and then softened his stance to take her back. Anyone who supported Sasikala has been promptly expelled from the party.
AIADMK, on the other hand, is attempting to stave off another problem with its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but the war of words between the NDA allies over who is the “real opposition of Tamil Nadu” continues.
“This has not created a problem in the alliance,” said AIADMK’s former minister D Jayakumar.
“Every party will dream of coming to power, and nobody can interfere in that. National parties will try to come to power. That is their wish. But we will only come back to govern. If you see people’s support that is only for the AIADMK always-yesterday, today and tomorrow.”
The issue can be traced back to last Tuesday when one of AIADMK’s founding members C Ponnaiyan, in an internal party meeting said that the BJP was trying to grow at AIADMK’s cost and he urged their IT-wing to expose the BJP’s stance on several issues which were not in Tamil Nadu’s favour on social media.
Ponnaiyan has been interacting with various media since Wednesday and said that the AIADMK’s ideology was diametrically opposite to that of the BJP but added that all is well with the alliance.
He also added that the BJP cannot grow in the state unless it changes its ideology and stands on sensitive issues like Cauvery, and Hindi imposition.
The AIADMK disassociated itself from his comments. “Annan (older brother) Ponnaiyan’s remarks should be considered his own,” O Panneerselvam had said last week.
K Annamalai, state BJP chief, responded that the comments reflect the BJP’s growth as they were playing a role acting like an opposition.
