V. K. Sasikala

Sasikala with Jayalalithaa in Early 2000s at Pasumpon Thevar Memorial

Sasikala's husband was a public relations officer in the government of Tamil Nadu, who worked closely with the district collector of South Arcot, V. S. Chandralekha, who in turn was very close to Tamil Nadu chief minister M. G. Ramachandran. These connections helped introduce Sasikala to J. Jayalalithaa, who was the propaganda secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) at the time.[22] Since Sasikala helped cover video of party meetings and distribution of policies of AIADMK through CDs, a friendship developed between the two and they became very close.[23]

Sasikala became the person most trusted by Jayalalithaa. After Ramachandran's death and the public humiliation of Jayalalithaa by AIADMK cadres who assaulted her at the funeral, Sasikala brought her relatives and 40 other people from Mannargudi for Jayalalithaa's protection. Jayalalithaa took control of AIADMK from Ramachandran's widow V. N. Janaki, and Sasikala moved into her Poes Garden residence in 1989. After Jayalalithaa became chief minister following the 1991 legislative assembly election, Sasikala's power and influence greatly increased, so much so that she was even more powerful than Jayalalithaa herself and the state ministers took orders directly from her.[22][24][25]

In 1995, the wedding for Sasikala's nephew V. N. Sudhakaran was held and generated significant controversy due to the extravagant display of wealth, with many people believing that the AIADMK government was significantly corrupt. Subramanian Swamy filed corruption cases against Jayalalithaa and her aides.[26] The AIADMK lost the 1996 legislative election, particularly due to Sasikala's display of her expensive jewelry.[23] Jayalalithaa had adopted Sudhakaran in 1995, but disowned him in 1996.[27]

P. Chidambaram, who had promised to hold Jayalalithaa and Sasikala accountable, had the latter investigated after assuming the position of finance minister for the union government in June 1996, leading to her arrest under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.[28] Jayalalithaa distanced herself from Sasikala, but the two restored their friendship after Sasikala refused to implicate her and was released after ten months in prison.[9][18]

AIADMK helped bring Atal Bihari Vajpayee to power after the 1998 general election. In 1999, Sasikala helped organise a tea party for Swamy, who was upset with Vajpayee for not giving him the position of a cabinet minister. The party was attended by Jayalalithaa and Indian National Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. The AIADMK helped bring down Vajpayee's government within a few days as AIADMK withdrew its support from the coalition headed by him.[22]

On 19 December 2011, Jayalalithaa expelled Sasikala and 13 others, including Sasikala's husband, M. Natarajan, her nephew T. T. V. Dhinakaran, their relatives, and Jayalalithaa's foster son V. N. Sudhakaran from the AIADMK.[29][30] This act of Jayalalithaa's was considered a way to prove that she was not under the influence of Sasikala and her family. The matter was resolved by 31 March 2012, when Sasikala was reinstated as a party member after issuing a written apology.[31]

In a meeting held on 29 December 2016 – the first meeting after Jayalalithaa's death on 5 December 2016 – the AIADMK General Council appointed Sasikala as the party's temporary general secretary until a formal election was held for the post.[32][33][34]

On 5 February 2017, Sasikala was unanimously elected as the AIADMK Legislature Party Leader by a meeting of all the MLAs in the party.[35][36] Tamil Nadu governor C. Vidyasagar Rao accepted the resignation of Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on 6 February, and instructed him to continue functioning as acting chief minister "until alternate arrangements are made". The governor delayed announcing Sasikala as the new Chief Minister, waiting for the verdict of the disproportionate assets case against her. On 14 February 2017, Sasikala was convicted and sentenced to four years in Bangalore's Parappana Agrahara Jail and was given 24 hours to surrender. The governor rejected her claims to become chief minister. Sasikala then convened the party's MLA council in her capacity as the general secretary, where Edappadi K. Palaniswami was unanimously appointed as the new chief minister and sworn in the next day.[37]

On 21 August 2017, it was reported that the AIADMK faction loyal to Palaniswami had decided to merge with Panneerselvam's splinter faction and expelled Sasikala as the general secretary as one of the key demands of the merger.[38] It was reported on 28 August that Sasikala had been expelled during a party meeting,[39] but this was later denied.[3]

On 13 September, the AIADMK General Council cancelled Sasikala's appointment as interim general secretary and expelled her from the party, though officials appointed to party posts by her were allowed to continue their duties. Instead, the late Jayalalithaa was named the eternal general secretary of AIADMK.[2] Sasikala filed a case in the City Civil Court IV of Chennai in February 2021, but it upheld her dismissal as the AIADMK general secretary in April 2022.[40] On 11 July, Palaniswami succeeded her as the interim general secretary of the party at a general council meeting.[41][42]

Among the resolutions passed during Sasikala's expulsion, the AIADMK declared that her appointment as general secretary was disputable and as such, T. T. V. Dhinakaran's appointment as Deputy General Secretary as well as his decisions were cancelled.[3]

The expulsion of Sasikala and her family led to the creation of the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kahzagam (AMMK) on 15 March 2018 by T. T. V. Dhinakaran.[43] Sasikala held the post of general secretary until 19 April 2019 when Dhinakaran was elected to the position. He stated that she would function as the party's president after her release from jail in a disproportionate assets case.[1]

After being released from jail, Sasikala announced her intention to return to active politics in February 2021, but announced a change of mind on 3 March.[44] She did not support Dhinakaran when he decided that the AMMK would participate in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election alone.[45] After her release from jail, Panneerselvam was open to letting Sasikala back into the AIADMK, but was opposed by Palaniswami.[46]

Sasikala confirmed in May 2021 that she would return to active politics.[47] She later attempted to regain her political influence and released audio tapes on social media, calling on people to bring in a government modelled after Jayalalithaa's policies and push out "enemies and traitors". She also claimed that she stayed away from the AIADMK so Palaniswami and Panneerselvam would win the local elections and promised to unite the disputing factions of the party.[45]

Dhinakaran stated in July 2021 that Sasikala was trying to reclaim the AIADMK by winning over its cadres.[48] On 17 October she claimed that she was still the general secretary of AIADMK, and called on the party to unite for its sake as well as of the people.[49] On 26 June 2022, she began a political tour claiming that she was trying to protect the AIADMK.[50]

After the expulsion of Panneerselvam from AIADMK in July 2022 and Palaniswami becoming the interim general secretary of the party, Sasikala denounced Palaniswami's appointment to the position as invalid, and stated that he did not have any authority to expel Panneerselvam, while also claiming that the party cadres wanted her to become the general secretary.[51] After his expulsion was overturned by the Madras High Court in August 2022, Panneerselvam stated that he would meet with Sasikala and Dhinakaran to unite the AIADMK.[52] On 2 September 2022, a division bench of the Madras High Court upheld the decisions of the AIADMK general council meeting held on 11 July 2022 and set aside the previous court order of the single judge in the appeal case of Edappadi K. Palaniswami, thus effectively restoring unitary leadership.[53][54] The High Court order was upheld by the Supreme Court of India by rejecting the petitions of Panneerselvam on 23 February 2023.[55][56]

A commission probing Jayalalithaa's death recommended investigating Sasikala and others in a report submitted to the state government on 27 August 2022.[57] Expulsion of Panneerselvam was upheld by the Madras High Court and Palaniswami became the General Secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on 28 March 2023.[4][58] On 20 April 2023, The Election Commission of India recognized Edappadi K Palaniswami as the AIADMK party general secretary, acknowledging the amendments to the party constitution and changes to list of office-bearers.[59][60]