CHENNAI: Just a couple of days after VK Sasikala assuming charge as the AIADMK general secretary, senior functionaries of the AIADMK have started making a fresh bout of appeals to her to take over as chief minister of the State immediately. Revenue minister RB Udayakumar reiterated this request on Sunday and AIADMK parliamentary party leader M Thambidurai followed suit on Monday, obviously putting pressure on chief minister O Panneerselvam to step down from the office to give way for Sasikala.
“The past history has shown that some governments had been pushed to several hurdles and were incapable of delivering on their promises and that, such governments had lost their credibility among the people, when the leadership of the party and the leadership of the government was in the hands of two different persons,” Thambidurai said in a statement here today.
“The unfinished tasks of the party and the government, as expected by Amma, will be completed only when the leadership of the party and the leadership of the government are in the hand of one person,” he asserted.
He also said when the country faces parliamentary elections in two years, AIADMK should function very effectively to get the wholehearted support of the people, and to continue to win the elections, as was done by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
“I emphatically request that Chinnamma has to immediately take over the leadership of the government, as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu acceding to the wishes and requests of party workers and cadres like me,” Thambidurai reiterated.
Thambidurai further said Sasikala had the intelligence, capacity, and love for the people and the party cadres, as Jayalalithaa had.
“It is my strong belief that Chinnamma has to shoulder the responsibility of the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, to take forward the party and to carry on the governance of the State, for the welfare of the people,” he added.