Sasikala hits back at OPS, claims all AIADMK MLAs are together and with her

It was almost quarter past 1am on Wednesday when VK Sasikala, AIADMK Legislature Party leader and general secretary, strode out of Veda Nilayam in Poes Garden. Until December, this was Jayalalithaa’s residence, but it’s Sasikala and her family who live there now.

 

As Chinnamma walked out to wave to the gathered crowd and media persons, she had two things on her mind: to dismiss speculation that the AIADMK would split after O Pannerselvam’s late night revelations, and to tell the public that she was still in charge of the party.

 

Sasikala’s short statement was, “All MLAs are like one family, and we have no problems.”

 

She also had an allegation to make, against opposition DMK. Claiming that OPS’s revelations were a conspiracy by the DMK, she said that  DMK leaders and OPS were looking at each other and smiling in the Assembly, so they must have plotted this together.

 

On being asked whether she thought the Governor was not holding her swearing-in ceremony because of a conspiracy, Sasikala said, “Your thoughts are my thoughts.”

 

And with that, she walked back into her Poes Garden residence. 

 

Sasikala’s claim that ‘all MLAs’ are with her were echoed by those firmly in her camp. First among them, AIADMK’s Delhi face and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambidurai.

 

Lashing out at O Panneerselvam, Thambidurai dismissed allegations that OPS was forced to resign. “He is a seasoned politician, a three time Chief Minister. Do you think he could yield to pressure? That means, he’s unfit to be Chief Minister,” Thambidurai told TNM.