Won't wait long': Sasikala loses some big names, meets rest to take stock

Chennai: After issuing a veiled threat to Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao and the Union Government that her patience was running out, AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala on Saturday drove to Golden Bay Resort and held a meeting with MLAs who have been staying there since Wednesday.

"All party MLAs are fine & happy. They were waiting patiently till this moment for a reply from the Governor. Delay in swearing-in to cause split in party, will take necessary measures," Sasikala said after meeting them.

The MLAs have been allegedly kept 'captive' so that they won't be poached, but Sasikala has already lost two big names to the Panneerselvam camp. State education minister K Pandiarajan and party spokesman C. Ponnaiyan extended their support to the OPS camp on Saturday.

While she still has the numbers on her side, her patience seems to be running out.

“Our patience has a limit. We will wait only to an extent and after that we will do what we have to,” Sasikala told her partymen at the Poes Garden on Saturday afternoon, after she wrote a letter to Rao seeking an appointment by this evening to parade her MLAs.

Sasikala is expected to drive to Raj Bhavan to try force the Governor to witness her parade of MLAs, if he does not call her himself.

In the letter to Rao, Sasikala recalled her meeting with him on Thursday during which she staked her claim to form the government.

"Thus as it has been seven long days since Chief Minister O Panneerselvam submitted (his resignation) and Your Excellency accepted his resignation, taking the urgency of the situation at hand, I would like to seek an appointment with Your Excellency by today along with all MLAs who extended their support to me regarding further course of action to form the government," she said.

While speaking to her partymen, which was beamed live on Jaya TV, Sasikala recalled how her late friend J Jayalalithaa had strengthened the party after the demise of M G Ramachandran. “Our late Amma faced several difficulties in running the party and now we are also facing such difficulties. We will overcome every obstacle and emerge victorious,” Sasikala said.

Later, she along with senior party leaders drove to Kuvathur, where her party MLAs has been staying since Wednesday, to address them.