'Chinnamma' Sasikala confirmed as AIADMK general secretary; set to take office on Saturday

With the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) passing a resolution to appoint VK Sasikala as party general secretary, the 60-year-old aide of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa is set to take office on Saturday. A party release said she will continue to hold all powers that comes with the post until the formal election process can be completed.

Sasikala Natarajan to formally take charge as General Secretary of AIADMK tomorrow morning at AIADMK's head office in Chennai.

— ANI (@ANI) December 30, 2016

A report in The Hindu said chief minister O Panneerselvam, along with a few other party leaders, met Sasikala on Thursday and gave a copy of the resolutions to her. It said the general council meeting, presided by party presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan, was meeting for the first time after Jayalalithaa’s death. Speaking to PTI after the meeting, Panneerselvam, who is also party treasurer, had said ‘Chinnamma’ will lead the party the same way Jayalalithaa had done. Panneerselvam said, “She has agreed wholeheartedly to guard and lead the party like amma by following her path.” “We told her (Sasikala) that she has been appointed the general secretary effective from today itself. Very soon, she will come to the party headquarters and commence the party work,” Panneerselvam, who is also the AIADMK treasurer, said. “We requested her to accept the party’s decision of appointing her as general secretary and give her concurrence to it and honourable Chinnamma wholeheartedly accepted it,” he said, after calling on Sasikala at the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa where she continues to live.

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With inputs from PTI