V K Sasikala senses a comeback opportunity as AIADMK reels from Lok Sabha poll debacle

As the AIADMK looks to regroup after the Lok Sabha poll debacle in Tamil Nadu, there are calls to reunite the different factions of the party and the person leading it is V K Sasikala, a once-influential aide of late party supremo Jayalalithaa.

The unity calls have come from a group of ousted leaders who were close to Sasikala and former Deputy CM O Panneerselvam and they reached out to current party leaders, including AIADMK general secretary and former CM Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Though the 69-year-old Sasikala, sidelined for the past few years, has signalled her intent to make another comeback by publicly demanding that the party reunite, her well-wishers and AIADMK insiders said her efforts were likely to be in vain as she missed crucial opportunities to reclaim her position: first, when she failed to capitalise on the moment after her release from prison in January 2021, then by missing the 2021 Assembly polls and the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Sasikala, raising serious concerns about the AIADMK’s successive electoral setbacks, also attacked the DMK government and its “poor administration”. Known as “Chinnamma” within the AIADMK, she said despite the party’s massive setback in the Lok Sabha polls, it was not yet finished “because my entry has just begun”.

Once a dominant force in state politics, the AIADMK is now a shadow of its former self. While the Sasikala, Panneerselvam, and T T V Dhinakaran (Sasikala’s nephew) factions are engaged in negotiations to get back into the party, the pleas seem to have had little impact on the party cadre, who remain united under Palaniswami. Popularly known as EPS, the AIADMK leader is adamant that he will not take back the ousted leaders and dismissed the calls to integrate the