Chinnamma. This is the only new word being uttered by the AIADMK party functionaries and seniors. The 60-year-old woman, who was always seen seated behind former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram in her car or campaign van, assisting her, is all set to emerge out of the shadows. Chinnamma’s journey began in the 80s when she was first introduced to Jayalalithaa by her PRO husband Natarajan. Now, 30 years later, she was present outside the glass cabin of Apollo’s Critical Care unit, taking care of her chief minister friend. Clad in a black saree, she was there beside the casket of Jayalalithaa at the sprawling Rajaji Hall. She was even there at Marina to perform the last rites of the party chief before the sandalwood bier was placed into the grave.
Sasikala Natarajan, the close aide and confidante of Jayalalithaa for three decades, is known as Chinnamma in the party circles. Hailing from Mannargudi in Thiruvarur district, she is just an eighth class pass, but her acumen and her understanding of the power politics in the state and the country is well appreciated by her party functionaries. “She was with Amma for all these years, assisting Amma during her trying times. She is the right person to guide us and take the party forward,” says Chennai Mayor Saidai Duraisamy.
Though most of the party functionaries, ministers, MPs and MLAs are for Sasikala to take over as the general secretary of the party, voices of dissent within the party have also hit the air. On the day when party leaders met her at Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence and asked her to take charge, at least 400 party cadres staged a sit in opposing Sasikala’s elevation. “Who is she to take over as our leader? How can you equate her to our leader? She was with Amma all these days and killed her. She has no right to take over as the leader,” says Rajakumari, a party cadre from Pudukottai district who was seen protesting along with the crowd.
It was in August 2014 when Jayalalithaa was elected as the party general secretary for the seventh time in a row. She held that post with such a command that she was called Niranthara Podhu Cheyalalar (permanent general secretary). The party, however, gave a miss to the general body meeting in 2014 as Jayalalithaa was convicted in the Disproportionate Assets case by a Bengaluru court.
In December 2015, the 1000-member general body of the party met in Chennai and took a pledge to take the party to a massive victory in the assembly elections. Sasikala was seen seated in the first row during the general council meet last year.
Constitutional hurdle
Sasikala was expelled from the party in December 2011. She was taken back into Poes Garden by Jayalalithaa herself in 2012, after Sasikala wrote a lengthy letter seeking apology. Sasikala had then said that she would not eye for even a councillor post in the party. “Only after coming out of Poes Garden, I became aware of the machinations of my relatives who have misused my proximity and brought disrepute to akka (Jayalalithaa) and the party. I have no role whatsoever in that. Hereafter, any relative, whosoever it might be, who had conspired against akka, will remain persona non-grata for me as well,” she had written in the letter.
As per section 30 (5) of the AIADMK party constitution, any party functionary contesting for the party general secretary post should have been in the party for five years without any break. The party rules were amended on February 2, 2007. Section 30 (5) says, “Those who want to contest for the post of office bearers in the organisation should have been members of the party for five years without any break. The general secretary is vested with power to relax this.”
While Sasikala came back to Poes Garden on March 28, 2012, it has still not been disclosed that whether she had been re-admitted into the party. Even if she has been re-admitted, from March 2012 to December 2016, she would have completed only four years in the party without a break. So, it remains to be seen if this rule will be followed or bypassed to anoint Sasikala as the party general secretary.
