Is Sasikala wooing Thevar community to take over AIADMK?

Leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu assembly and former Chief Minister of the state, E. Palaniswami (EPS) had on Saturday met his former Deputy in the AIADMK government, O Panneerselvam (OPS) in a bid to break the ice, at a city hotel.

However other than ironing out the differences between the two, sources in the AIADMK pointed out that it was an attempt by EPS to convince OPS of the danger looming on the horizon with former interim general secretary VK Sasikala trying to make a takeover bid for the party.

While both Palaniswami and Panneerselvam had maintained that Sasikala was not a threat to the party, there is serious thinking within the AIADMK on the possibility of the former aide of J Jayalalithaa trying to take over the party using her goodwill in the powerful Thevar community of Tamil Nadu.

Sasikala had entered Chennai in a convoy of 1000 vehicles to publicly announce her return to active politics but she was cold shouldered by both Palaniswami and Panneerselvam.

Former minister and AIADMK leader CVe Shanmugham had on Monday in a press conference openly said that Sasikala does not have membership of the AIADMK and has no role in the party. He was referring to the political developments over some leaked voice clips in which Sasikala is heard telling AIADMK cadres that she would come back to active politics and take over the party.- IANS