Chennai: Sasikala Natarajan, a close friend of late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, was on Thursday appointed as the general secretary of the AIADMK by the party’s general council.
The general council also paid tributes to Jayalalithaa and demanded that a bronze statue of hers be installed at Parliament House Complex and urged the Centre to bestow her with Bharat Ratna.
As expected, there was no election to the top post and the general council passed an unanimous resolution to work under Ms Natarajan. Immediately using its powers, the general council appointed her to the all-powerful post and a high-powered delegation led by chief minister O. Pannerselvam and Lok Sabha deputy speaker M. Thambidurai rushed from the venue on the outskirts of the city to the Poes Garden and handed over a copy of the resolution to Ms Natarajan.
In a televised event, Mr Pannerselvam and Mr Thambidurai, along with senior leaders of the party, conveyed the general council’s decision to Sasikala and asked her to accept the post. With tears, the close aide of the late chief minister received the resolution and placed it before a portrait of Jayalalithaa and later gave her nod to take the reins of the 45-year-old party.
Later, the chief minister told reporters that Ms Natarajan has accepted the decision of the general council and will soon take charge as the party supremo. Since the AIADMK constitution mandates that a member should have been in the party for at least five years before contesting the general secretary elections, there was no election held for the post.
Ms Sasikala, who was expelled on December 17, 2011 by Jayalalithaa, was readmitted to the party in March 2012. She will complete five years of uninterrupted membership only in March 2017. Contrary to speculations that the party rules would be amended, no such resolution was passed.
“She will be duly elected as general secretary of the AIADMK in due course,” a senior AIADMK leader said. The party was careful since petitions have been filed in the Madras high court against Sasikala’s election to the general secretary post citing the rule of membership for five years without any interruption.
Recalling late Jayalalithaa’s words, the general council said: “Sasikala had experienced great difficulties for me. She is my ‘udanpirava sagothari’. She filled the void in my life left by my mother”.
Resolutions
1 Sasikala will be the interim general secretary of the AIADMK
2 The party will request to award the Bharat Ratna, Nobel Peace Prize and Ramon Magsaysay Award to Jayalalithaa
3 The party will request to declare Jayalalithaa’s birthday as National Farmer’s Day
4 The party demands that a bronze statue of Jayalalithaa be installed at Parliament House Complex
