Time nearing for merger of AIADMK factions, says Sasikala

CHENNAI: Expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala on Friday said the “time is nearing” for the merger of the AIADMK party as she can see the early signs for it. She said this hours after the BJP leaders CT Ravi and K Annamalai meeting with the AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and ousted AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam regarding the merger of the party to take on the DMK in the Erode East by-poll.

“We are very close to it (merger of the two factions). That’s what I can say now and I can see the early signs and the situation is also conducive,” Sasikala told reporters in Chennai.

However, the former CM’s close aide expressed her displeasure for involving the BJP over the internal party disputes and said, “If they (OPS and EPS) would have understood the party well, this would have been avoided.”

Reiterating that factionalism is not good for the party, Sasikala said, “Our action should reflect the thoughts and words of the two leaders (M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa).”

Sasikala’s nephew and AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran said it was good for the anti-DMK parties to come together and form an alliance. It can field a common candidate. “Our party candidate can be considered as a common candidate as he was born and brought up in the constituency. He is well educated too,” he said. He insisted on the need for a united political force to take on the ruling party and its alliance in the bypoll.

He came down heavily on Edappadi K Palaniswami for the split in the party and said greed and power monickering of certain persons resulted in the divide of the party. He recalled his proposal ahead of the 2021 assembly polls and said, “I was even ready to restrain myself from contesting the elections and asked for 40 seats for my party candidates. It did not work out and everyone knows who stops it.”