CHENNAI: In a sign of changing times, a photograph of
V K Sasikala's husband M Natarajan and her brother,
V Dhivakaran
found place in the Monday issue of Namadhu MGR, the AIADMK party organ, originally launched by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
This seemed like a reassertion of the role of the family in the party. The duo were among 14 members of the family, expelled by Jayalalithaa in 2011 for "treacherous acts".
Only her close aide Sasikala had been re-inducted in the party and Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence. This comes in the wake of the party organ publishing a series of statements by party deputy general secretary T T V Dhinakaran and reports on his arrest until Saturday.
The photograph of Natarajan and Dhivakaran, in the company of state ministers, R Duraikannu, R Kamaraj, O S Manian and Thanjavur district secretary M Rangasamy (a relative of Sasikala) was taken at an event to unveil a portrait of T V Mahadevan, Sasikala's nephew, who passed away recently.
The newspaper founded by Jayalalithaa in 1988 on the lines of MGR's
Anna daily
, is printed and published by Jaya Publications in which Sasikala is a partner. Incidentally, Jaya TV, the official channel of AIADMK, is led by Sasikala clan, and Vivek Jayaraman, son of Ilavarasi (Sasikala's sister in law), is said to have taken charge recently.
Fuming over the developments, AIADMK's former legal wing secretary P H Manoj Pandian said, "They (EPS faction) have not initiated any move, based on the request of our leader (O Panneerselvam), to expel them from the party. Our leader Amma kept them out until her death." The rebels also dub the removal of Sasikala banners from the party headquarters as an attempt to hoodwink cadres and people. On Saturday, the lead article of the paper quoted leaders as saying that the arrest of Dhinakaran on "false charges" was "unjust".
Namadhu
MGR sources
say Sasikala remains the big boss with the monthly salaries of the staff paid by her. "The paper did not receive any invite for the family event (paying tribute to Mahadevan) but received a photograph from them, since the deceased was former state secretary of Amma Peravai," said the source.
Former minister
S Semmalai
, one of the senior leaders of OPS camp alleged that the party remains in the clutches of the family. "We gave adequate time to the other faction to fulfil our demands," he said.