CHENNAI: VK Sasikala who witnessed the ups and downs of the AIADMK for over three decades resurfaced in politics in February, after a gap of four years, with a bang. Her roadshow from Bengaluru prison to Chennai for more than 24 hours gave fresh hope to her supporters. However, after 10 months, she is yet to make a major impact on her mission of ‘regaining’ or ‘uniting’ the AIADMK.
On her way to Chennai from Bengaluru on February 8, Sasikala said Kazhagam (AIADMK) had faced many trials and rose again like a phoenix. “My objective is to check our political adversary (DMK) from capturing power again and to achieve that, our cadre must function unitedly,” Sasikala said.
However, within a month, Sasikala announced her decision to keep away from politics and said she never desired power. But after the AIADMK faced defeat in the Assembly elections, Sasikala returned to politics saying “After the elections, the cadre appealed to me to lead the party. It is now crystal clear that only if I step in, the party can taken forward.”
From then on, Sasikala released a series of recordings of interactions with her supporters and assured that she would undertake a Statewide tour to meet grassroots-level workers. However, the Statewide visit remains a non-starter. For the past few months, Sasikala issued statements on public issues but no significant AIADMK functionaries openly supported her.
Political analyst Tharasu Shyam is of the view that Sasikala is yet to make an impact because she has no organisational structure to back her. “Sasikala’s intention is to regain the AIADMK and all her moves are towards that end.
“But in reality, it is a long-drawn legal process and a political party cannot be captured by that. It can be done only through elections and she has to prove herself as the choice of the people. She could have started a party or should have backed the AMMK in the elections.” Shyam added that if Sasikala continued to adopt the present strategy, she would not move ahead.
However, a former AIADMK Minister close to Sasikala pointed out “Sasikala is watching the developments and making her moves carefully. She has been in politics for around four decades. She knows when to strike. Please wait and see.”