AIADMK MP Thambidurai requests Sasikala to take over as CM immediately

Two days after VK Sasikala took charge as AIADMK’s General Secretary, calls have once again renewed for her to take over immediately as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In a letter issued to the media by the AIADMK party office, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker and AIADMK Propaganda Secretary M Thambidurai wrote, “When the country is going to face Parliamentary election in two years, our Party AIADMK has to function very effectively to get the wholehearted support of the people, and to continue to win the election, as was done by Puratchi Thalaivar and Puratchi Thalaivi, I emphatically request that Respected Chinnamma has to immediately take over the leadership of the Government, as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.”

His appeal for her to take charge as CM follows her emotional speech to the AIADMK members on Saturday.  Thambidurai states, “Respected Chinnamma has the intelligence, capacity and love for the people, love for the Party workers and care for the Party cadres, as Puratchi Thalaivi Hon'ble Amma had; and it is my strong belief that it is very important that Respected Chinnamma has to shoulder the responsibility of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, to take forward the Party and to carry on the governance of Tamil Nadu, for the welfare of the people of Tamil Nadu.”

This isn’t the first time senior AIADMK leaders have appealed to “Chinnamma” to take charge as CM. Revenue Minister Udayakumar had made a similar request a few days ago, and was reiterated by AIADMK spokesperson Ponnaiyan, who argued that in Dravidian parties it was natural for the leader of the party to also hold the reins of the government. In a veiled reference to the UPA government, when Sonia Gandhi was Congress President and Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, Thambidurai wrote,

“At the same time, we have seen that people in India have not accepted the situation where the leadership of the Party is in one hand and the leadership of the Government is in another hand; and that, the Government has focused its attention on its single goal and fulfilled the election promises made to the people, when the leadership of both the Party and the Government was in one person's hand.”

Three-time CM, O Panneerselvam, who took charge shortly after Jayalalithaa’s death on December 5, has been an interim arrangement in 2001 and in 2014. Since taking charge, Pannerselvam has been a visible supporter of Sasikala, even publishing an ad in a Tamil newspaper paying tribute to her. He had even avoided using the CM designation in the advertisement, choosing instead to use his party designation.