In Jayalalithaa's constituency, Sasikala Natarajan an unwanted successor

Chennai: Sasikala Natarajan, who last month became the new AIADMK chief following the death of J Jayalalithaa, is an unwanted figure in the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s constituency of RK Nagar in Chennai.

According to an NDTV report, many workers from AIADMK, mostly women, protested on Thursday as lawmaker P Vetrivel appealed to Natarajan to fight from the seat Jayalalithaa represented.

Vetrieval was present at a silent rally in Chennai to mark 30 days of Jayalalithaa’s death. There, people organized protests against Sasikala, said the report.

"We only came for Amma. Tell Chinnamma (Sasikala) to not imagine we have come to vote for her," a senior citizen was quoted as saying at the protest.
V Padma, another woman worker said, "She was in hospital for 75 days. Did they show Amma to us?"

Another protester also wanted Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar to contest from RK Nagar, calling her the ‘real heir to Jayalalithaa.’

Vetrivel called the protests insignificant and blamed it on the Opposition DMK, claiming the opposition party had orchestrated them. However, DMK dismissed the allegation as ‘cheap’.

Sensing discontent, some senior AIADMK office bearers have already suggested that Sasikala contest elections from Madurai, said the report.

This development comes even as some ministers in Tamil Nadu's AIADMK government have urged Sasikala to take up the post of the state's Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar had surprise visitors in the form of a few hundred AIADMK workers who gathered outside her home in Chennai’s T Nagar, asking her to lead them.

"At an appropriate time I shall announce my decision. None can stop me," she was quoted as saying.