AIADMK goes to police against non-members using its flag, Sasikala''s return to TN on Feb 8

Chennai, Feb 4: Signalling a tough stand against expelled leader V K Sasikala, the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Thursday said it has petitioned the state police chief to restrain non-members of the party from using its flag, days after she travelled in a car fitted with it in Bengaluru.

The petition has been submitted ahead of the return of Sasikala, confidante of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, after a gap of four years on completion of her jail term in Bengaluru in a corruption case.

Incidentally, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary T T V Dhinakaran said Sasikala, confidante of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and his aunt, would return to the state next Monday, instead of earlier schedule of Sunday.

Speaking to reporters here, AIADMK deputy coordinator K P Munusamy said the ''main reason'' for the petition was due to the use of the party''s flag by Sasikala in Bengaluru on Sunday after her discharge from a hospital where she was treated for COVID-19.

The plea was submitted to restrain non-members from using the AIADMK flag, the senior leader said adding Sasikala was not a member of his party and she had no moral right to use the flag. It is seen as a move to ensure that the AIADMK flag was not used by Sasikala or her associates in the AMMK when she returned to Tamil Nadu.

The AIADMK flag was mounted on the bonnet of a car she travelled following her recent discharge from the hospital in the Karnataka capital after recovery from COVID-19. Sasikala was set free on January 27 following completion of a four year prison sentence in a corruption case. The ruling party had then itself questioned the propriety of Sasikala''s action when she had been ousted from the party.

Dhinakaran had defended the use of the AIADMK flag, saying Sasikala continued to be the general secretary of the party and litigation relating to her "so-called expulsion" and connected matters were pending before the court. Sasikala was expelled from the party in September, 2017 along with Dhinakaran and others by the general council of the combined AIADMK under the leadership of Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam after the two merged their respective factions.