Sasi’s return triggers war of words between AIADMK & AMMK

Sasi’s return triggers war of words between AIADMK & AMMK

OPS, EPS Appeal For Unity, Ministers Take Fight To DGP

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:07.02.2021

V K Sasikala’s impending arrival in Chennai on Monday (February 8) sparked reactions in the AIADMK and AMMK camps with the rivals questioning each other’s political relevance. An AIADMK meeting convened by party coordinator and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator and CM Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday evening saw the leaders making a fervent appeal to partymen for unity.

It was an action-packed day with a group of ministers lodging a complaint with the DGP, accusing Sasikala and her nephew and AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran of “hatching a conspiracy to disturb public peace in Tamil Nadu and their supporters threatening to unleash attack as human bombs’’. Dhinakaran retorted, wondering why the ministers were so “agitated”. Across the city, the government deployed police in large numbers at “sensitive points” to ensure there are “no untoward incidents’’.

Meanwhile, at the meeting convened by AIADMK at its headquarters in the city, EPS and OPS exhorted partymen to put up a united show and register a massive victory in the forthcoming assembly election. OPS even went on to state that he would remain supportive of the Edappadi K Palaniswami government to ensure the party won yet another election. It was clearly an exercise to boost party morale and ensure that the party rank and file stood firmly behind the leadership.

PIC AND STORY: Posters hailing Sasikala were seen at several places across the city on Saturday

POLITICAL MINEFIELD

Sasikala posters on Chennai walls leave AIADMK red-faced

The AIADMK, which had been expelling lower rung functionaries for openly supporting Sasikala over the last week, was further embarrassed on Saturday, when posters sprung up on street walls right next to the CM and deputy CM’s residences on Greenways Road, hailing Sasikala as “Rajmata” (which literally means the king’s mother).

During the 90-minute meeting, the leaders, including deputy coordinators, K P Munusamy and R Vaithilingam, besides party presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan, sought to downplay Sasikala’s return to the city.

“EPS said Dhinakaran had floated a party but failed on every count. He failed to achieve success in his battles before the election commission, in the court and in the elections as well. OPS narrated how he waged a ‘dharmayudh’ against the Sasikala clan and backed the EPS government,” said a senior leader, seeking anonymity.

Setting the tone for the anti-Sasikala and anti-Dhinakaran narrative was none other than the deputy coordinators and party presidium chairman. “They vehemently opposed Sasikala. Madhusudhanan demanded to know what bond Sasikala had with the AIADMK and the party founded by M G Ramachandran. Munusamy criticised the family as “middleagents” and said the party did not need such people,” said another leader, privy to the meeting. Ministers, district secretaries and headquarters’ office-bearers attended the meeting. It was a show of solidarity to back OPS and EPS without reservations, sources said. “The CM said the AIADMK would fetch victory for the third consecutive term if the partymen worked hard,” said a leader, adding that he called for burying differences and ridding factionalism. The chief minister invited partymen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s event on February 14 in Chennai to launch various projects. Later, an official release from party headquarters said the leadership advised partymen to take to the masses the historic achievements of the government through pamphlets and advertisements.