Chennai: Sasikala posters taken down at AIADMK headquarters
A leader in Panneerselvam’s faction, KP Munusamy, has welcomed the move.
Signalling a possible conciliation between the two factions of Tamil Nadu’s ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, posters of General Secretary VK Sasikala were taken down at the party headquarters on Wednesday. This came soon after Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dinakaran was arrested in Delhi for allegedly trying to bribe an Election Commission official to get the party’s “two leaves” symbol.
The move was welcomed by a leader in Former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam’s camp, KP Munusamy. The two factions have been in talks for a possible merger, but the fact that Dinakaran and Sasikala had not formally resigned from the party had become a stumbling block. But on Tuesday, E Madhusudanan, a leader from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s faction, had said the Sasikala banners needed to come down immediately to “uphold the sanctity” of the headquarters at Royapettah, The Times of India reported.
Sasikala’s posters had been alongside those of late Chief Ministers J Jayalalithaa and MG Ramachandran after her meteoric rise to the top of the party soon after Jayalalithaa’s death. She was set to become the next chief minister before the Supreme Court had convicted her in an illegal wealth case. Panneerselvam had revolted when she was elected the party’s legislative leader.