Sasikala cannot control AIADMK: Palaniswami

Launching an attack on his former boss, Tamil Nadu’s Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday accused V K Sasikala of “spreading lies” on the party’s defeat in the April 6 assembly elections with an “ulterior motive.”

Palaniswami said Sasikala will not be able to control the AIADMK and that the party cadres were not in a mood to trust her. He was responding to Sasikala’s suggestions that the party could have retained power in the assembly election if it was united.

“The party lost in 1996. She (Sasikala) was in the party. The party again lost in 2006, and she was in the party then as well. She is spreading lies with an ulterior motive. None in the party is ready to trust her,” Palaniswami told reporters in his native Salem district.

He also taunted Sasikala saying she had advised late M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa on politics. Palaniswami, who was handpicked by Sasikala as the chief minister before she proceeded to Bengaluru to serve her prison term in a disproportionate assets (DA) case, is opposed to his former boss making a comeback to the party.

Palaniswami has been maintaining that Sasikala was not “even a member” of the AIADMK and, therefore, she cannot assume the leadership of the party. Sasikala, who decided to “step aside” from politics before the elections, has now announced that she will take control of the AIADMK and “set things right” in the party.

Though Sasikala’s team is releasing audio clips of her conversation with AIADMK cadres, there has not been much of a talk within the party on her return.