TAMIL NADU

Split wide open in AIADMK; filmstar Anandraj quits party

PTI12_7_2016_000268B Though Sasikala Natarajan remains silent on her next move, she enjoys a massive support from most of the senior leaders | PTI

Hardly a month after the demise of J.Jayalalithaa, the undisputed leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam, dissent came out in open in the Dravidian party with senior leader Anandraj resigning from the party on Wednesday.

The filmstar-turned-politician said he had no personal enmity with anyone in the AIADMK but regretted the 'misuse' of Jayalalithaa's name by some in the party and the government. 

"In the present situation, even a government officer is using Amma's name," he said, in an apparent reference to former chief secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao, who is under Income Tax scanner, and had frequently invoked her name on Tuesday while defending himself during a press meet. 

Anandraj's resignation came amid growing speculation that Sasikala Natarajan, close aide of Jayalalithaa, will take over as party's general secretary in its General Council meeting on Thursday. Although Natarajan continues to keep her cards close to her chest, she enjoys a massive support from most of the senior leaders and party functionaries.

Meanwhile, high drama unfolded outside the party headquarters in Chennai on Wednesday as a man, believed to be the lawyer of expelled MP Sasikala Pushpa, was thrashed allegedly by a group of AIADMK workers.

Pushpa had questioned the elevation of Natarajan to the top spot and even demanded a probe against the latter over her alleged role in Jayalalithaa's death. A section of party workers have also echoed Pushpa's demands.

AIADMK blamed Pushpa for the ruckus outside the party headquarters saying the MP wanted to make law and order problems ahead of the General Council. “Let her resign first as MP as it was Amma who made her the Rajya Sabha member," party spokesperson C.R. Saraswathy said.

She alleged that Pushpa's injured "lawyer" was deliberately stayed put at the party headquarters despite being asked to leave and that it had been done to "create a problem".

Jayalalithaa died on December 5, a day after she suffered a cardiac arrest at Apollo hospital in Chennai where she had been under treatment for over two months.

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.

Related Reading

    Show more