Ex-CM Jayalalithaa’s former aide Sasikala calls for AIADMK merger before 2026 poll

Chennai, Sep 15 (PTI) Ousted former AIADMK interim general secretary V K Sasikala on Monday appealed for a unification of AIADMK factions before next year’s Assembly election.

She said that party workers desired to see a united AIADMK and reiterated that electoral prospects of the party hinged upon its merger.

“Everyone in the AIADMK wants the various factions to unite before the 2026 Assembly elections. I also want it,” the former close aide of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, told reporters at her Poes Garden residence here.

To a question, she replied that unification should happen before the poll and not after it.

Asked about the possibilities, Sasikala said, “it is very easy to reject. But accepting one into the fold is a very difficult task. This takes time." The goal of the AIADMK was to end the DMK rule and re-establish the rule of “Amma” (Jayalalithaa), she said and added “my work will be oriented towards the merger and party’s victory.” “Let what occurred (in the past) be considered as happened. Let what unfolds from now on be on a good note,” Sasikala stressed.

Expressing in a similar vein, AIADMK senior leader K A Sengottaiyan, who set a ten-day deadline for party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, said, “let's forget and forgive." “I have put forth my view on September 5 that AIADMK should be unified in order to become stronger,” Sengottaiyan told reporters in Erode district.

Meanwhile, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary T T V Dhinakaran, who was also expelled from the AIADMK, ruled out the scope of accepting Palaniswami as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2026 poll.

Dhinakaran had recently parted ways with the BJP, which has been projecting Palaniswami as the Chief Ministerial candidate. BJP state chief Nainar Nagendran had expressed his willingness to negotiate with former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and Dhinakaran and bring them back to the NDA alliance. PTI JSP ROH