COIMBATORE: The conviction of V K Sasikala in a disproportionate assets case is a fitting reply to those who blamed the Governor for the delay in inviting her to take over as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, state BJP today said.
"Jayalalithaa was heading a corruption-free government in her initial days but friendship (with Sasikala) got her involved in corrupt practices, the result of which was this conviction," party's state unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan told reporters at the airport here.
The verdict would now lead to cleansing of Tamil Nadu politics and also entry of corruption-free persons to govern the state, she said.
She said graft was not an issue for those like Dravidar Kazhagam leader K Veeramani, TNCC president Thirunavaukkarasar and VCK president Tol Tirumavalavan, who blamed the Governor for the delay in inviting Sasikala to take over as chief minister and also alleged that BJP was behind it.
However, BJP was not interested in "entering through the back door" and people had realised that the party wanted a corruption-free government to be installed in Tamil Nadu, she said.
"This (not inviting Sasikala) could be the first step towards installing a corruption-free and stable government in Tamil Nadu. The MLAs should not bow to coercion and compulsion and should now concentrate on the welfare of people and the state," she said.
To a question on Edapadi Palanisamy's election as AIADMK legislature party leader after Sasikala's conviction, she said the MLAs being held "hostage" in a resort should now be given the chance to prove their majority.
"Why should they (MLAs) stay in a resort when they have their own houses in their constituency and Chennai can be reached in a shortest possible time as it is not America or Russia?" she quipped.
Tamilisai said she was here to pay homage to those killed on this day in the 1998 serial bomb blasts.