Sasikala Natarajan, the general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, will hold meetings with party functionaries, MLAs and MPs in Chennai from January 4 to 9. Over the six days, she is expected to hold consultations with general council members from each AIADMK constituency, district secretaries of party wings as well as allies, the party said in a statement. An AIADMK functionary told PTI that it will be a “kind of introductory, interactive meet”.

The announcement of the six-day meet came hours after Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai called for Natarajan to take over as Tamil Nadu chief minister from O Panneerselvam with immediate effect. The AIADMK has “unshakeable faith and confidence” in Natarajan’s ability to carry forward the welfare schemes initiated by late party chief J Jayalalithaa, Thambidurai said.

A chorus of “Chinnamma for CM” has been doing the rounds, with AIADMK leaders and workers urging her to assume leadership both within the party as well as in the Tamil Nadu government. Earlier, state ministers, including Revenue Minister RB Uthayakumar, had said making Natarajan the chief minister would fulfil the “dreams and wishes of 1.5 crore AIADMK members”.

Natarajan took formal charge as the general secretary of AIADMK on December 31. At the gathering, she had said she will follow the “path shown by Amma [Jayalalithaa]”. “Amma is not with us now, but our party will rule here for the next 100 years.”

According to the party rules, a candidate for the general secretary post should have been a member of the party for at least five years. However, Jayalalithaa had expelled Natarajan from the party in 2011, and she had formally rejoined the next year. The rules are expected to be changed before the next party elections, expected to be held soon.

Jayalalithaa died on December 5, a day after she suffered cardiac arrest. She had been admitted in Chennai’s Apollo Hospital for 75 days.