Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Monday expelled longtime friend V.K. Sasikala, her husband M. Natarajan and over a dozen of their relatives from the AIADMK, issuing a diktat that no one in the party should have anything to do with them.
Sources said Sasikala has moved out of the CM’s Poes Garden bungalow, from where she had wielded huge clout over the party and the government whenever the AIADMK was in power.
A terse AIADMK statement, signed by general secretary Jayalalithaa, announced the expulsions that sent shockwaves, and caused jubilation, across both the party and the government. There were rumours for a few days that Sasikala’s relations with Ms Jayalalithaa had soured, but not many expected such a drastic purge. The two were named accused in the disproportionate assets case relating to the AIADMK’s previous term in office, now nearing the final stage at a special court in Bengaluru. Sasikala’s relatives Ilavarasi and V.N. Sudhakaran are the other accused in this case.
The friendship between Jayalalithaa and Sasikala dates back to the 1980s, when the former was a fledgling politician and Sasikala ran a video shop.