E-Paper
Sasikala meets Panneerselvam after four yrs, condoles his wife’s death
Sasikala sat next to Panneerselvam at the hospital for about 20 minutes, held his hands and consoled him when he broke down.
After their dramatic rivalry since J Jayalalithaa’s death, O Panneerselvam and V K Sasikala met on Wednesday for the first time in four years after the former’s wife Vijayalakshmi died at a private hospital in Chennai on Wednesday morning suffering a cardiac arrest.
Sasikala sat next to Panneerselvam at the hospital for about 20 minutes, held his hands and consoled him when he broke down.
The meeting is looked at as a significant political move as Sasikala met several other AIADMK leaders in the same setting after the twists and turns within the party since Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016. After a fortnight, Sasikala’s WhatsApp group ‘Chinamma Offl’ turned active on Wednesday by sharing pictures of Sasikala consoling Panneerselvam and his family.
Chief minister M K Stalin and former chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami met Panneerselvam in the hospital before Sasikala’s visit. Sasikala’s meeting comes at time when all is not well for the AIADMK.
The ruling DMK has been raiding former ministers close to Palaniswami and furthering the probe in the Kodanad heist-murder case. Palaniswami has been jittery repeatedly saying that the DMK is trying to frame him in the 2017 Kodanad case out of political vendetta.
AIADMK maintained that Sasikala’s visit was out of humanity. “She has come to condole the death of his wife, which is also a political decency that we have recently seen growing in Tamil Nadu,” said AIADMK spokesperson D Jayakumar. “This has nothing to do with our politics.”
Panneerselvam, who officiated through Jayalalithaa’s illness and death in 2016, rebelled against Sasikala, saying he was forced to resign as the chief minister. After Sasikala was imprisoned in the disproportionate assets case in February 2017, she picked Palaniswami to be chief minister. In a few months, the warring factions of Panneerselvam and Palaniswami merged and expelled Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran from the AIADMK.
After her release from prison, Sasikala, the leader who manoeuvred AIADMK from behind the scene as Jayalalithaa’s close confidante, made several attempts to come back and take over the party. But the AIADMK’s dual leadership had stonewalled her. While Palaniswami has been more staunch, Panneerselvam often portrayed a softer stance towards her re-entry. This affinity was attributed to Palaniswami sidelining Panneerselvam and the latter belonging to Sasikala’s community. Before the assembly elections were held on April 6, Sasikala said she was stepping away from politics so that AIADMK is united. With the loss of the party, Sasikala came back with more fervour, taking advantage of the tensions between Palaniswami and Panneerselvam that often came to the fore after the party’s defeat. She released audio clips of her speaking to AIADMK cadre, vowing to set right the party and making direct criticism against the leadership for backstabbing her. However, she too softened her stance on Panneerselvam in the conversations without naming him.
In July, Sasikala had also visited former party presidium chairman Madhusudhanan at the hospital before his death. He had also rebelled against her. Palaniswami who was in the hospital at the same time left hurriedly as soon as he heard of her arrival.
