Amma lives on: Jayalalithaa made AIADMK ‘eternal general secretary’; Sasikala sacked

The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu today sacked jailed V K Sasikala as interim chief and made its late supremo Jayalalithaa the party’s “eternal general secretary”, sparking fresh confrontation with rebel leader TTV Dhinakaran who vowed to bring down the government.

The decision to annul the appointment of Sasikala, who was a close aide of Jayalalithaa, was taken by the unified AIADMK’s General Council, the party’s top policy making body, in a unanimous resolution adopted at its meeting.

The Council also asserted the supremacy of Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam. Panneerselvam and Palaniswami, who are Co-ordinator and Joint Coordinator respectively of AIADMK, were vested with full executive powers.

Showing the door to Sasikala, the meeting unanimously declared that all appointments made by her, including that of naming her nephew Dhinakaran as Deputy General Secretary, was invalid.

“Following an atmosphere of shock after Amma’s (Jayalalithaa) untimely death… V K Sasikala was appointed as interim general secretary to attend to routine party work,” a resolution said.

“It is unanimously resolved to cancel her appointment made on December 29,2016…. And all appointments and removals made by her between December 30, 2016 and February 15, 2017 are not valid,” the resolution added.

Sasikala, among others, named …read more