CHENNAI: In yet another turn of events ahead of VK Sasikala's return to Tamil Nadu, the ruling AIADMK on Thursday approached the State Police to prevent her from using the party flag during her travel into the State.
AIADMK presidium chairman, E Madhusudanan, accompanied by senior ministers, C Ve Shanmugam and D Jayakumar, and party's deputy coordinators, KP Munusamy and R Vaithilingam, visited the DGP office on Thursday and lodged a complaint.
Speaking to media persons, Munusamy said that Sasikala had used the AIADMK flag when she was discharged from the Bengaluru hospital. He added that she had no moral right to use that flag since it could only be used by the AIADMK functionaries and cadre.
"To prevent a recurrence of such usage by her, our presidium chairman has filed this complaint. Through our petition filed before the police, we have conveyed to Sasikala that she should not be using the flag anymore," he said.
When asked if Sasikala had been officially removed from the AIADMK, and if a party law forbids others from using its flag, Munusamy said, "Sasikala Natarajan is not a member of the AIADMK. As such, why should we remove her from the party when she has failed to renew her membership once every five years like every other cadre. There arises no question of removing her from the party at all."
Tracing the turn of events following the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016, Law Minister Shanmugam said, "Following the split of the party after the Amma (Jayalalithaa)'s death, party presidium chairman E Madhusudanan filed a petition before the Election Commission that the appointment of Sasikala as the interim general secretary and (her nephew) TTV Dhinakaran as the deputy general secretary as invalid. He also requested the EC to appoint a competent officer to conduct an election within the party."
"Later in the interest of the party, O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami together faced the case before the EC. At that time, Sasikala and Dhinakaran argued that the real AIADMK was with them. But the EC on November 23, 2017 gave its final ruling that the party led by E Madhusudanan, Panneerselvam and Palaniswami is the real AIADMK and gave the Two Leaves symbol too to us," Shanmugam added.
Challenging this ruling, Sasikala and Dhinakaran filed a petition before the Delhi High Court and this court too had upheld the verdict of the EC and rejected the petition by Sasikala and Dhinakaran. Following this, both of them filed an appeal before the Supreme Court.
When the hearing was on, Dhinakaran recused himself from the petition saying he had nothing to do with the AIADMK and launched the AMMK. The SC, in its final verdict rejected the petition filed by the Sasikala and asserted that the party led by Panneerselvam and Palaniswami is the real AIADMK, Shanmugam said.
"Even after this, Sasikala filed a review petition before the SC which was again rejected. Hereafter, only a curative petition can only be filed, which she has not filed till now. So, if Sasikala wants to pursue this case even beyond the Supreme Court, she can only approach the United Nations or conduct a Kangaroo court in Mannargudi," Shanmugam quipped.
Meanwhile, a petition was submitted to Vellore district collector A Shanmuga Sundaram, by Dhinakaran’s AMMK, seeking permission to give a grand reception to Sasikala on her return, by showering flowers from a helicopter at Kuthambakkam near Madhanur in the district.
The party's general secretary, Dhinakaran, on Thursday said that Sasikala would start from Bengaluru on February 8, instead of February 7, as scheduled earlier. Coincidentally, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami is scheduled to hold an election campaign in Vellore on the same date.
In his letter to the AMMK cadre, Dhinakaran said that the responsibility to check the DMK from coming to power after 10 years has been rested with the AMMK cadre and they should strengthen Sasikala's hands to redeem the political movement nourished and protected by late leader J Jayalalithaa.
"So, we should function with the single objective of defeating the DMK in the forthcoming election," Dhinakaran added. He added that the cadre should extend a warm reception to her from Tamil Nadu border to Chennai, without causing any disturbance to anybody else.