Won't keep quiet any more, says Sasikala after AIADMK fails to win even a single Lok Sabha seat

CHENNAI: A day after the AIADMK ended up with zero seats in the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the voice for unification of the divided house is regaining to revive the legacy of the party.

Amidst this hue and cry of the party cadre and functionaries, the estranged AIADMK leader and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s close aide VK Sasikala gave clarion call to the cadre to end the factionalism in the party.

She reiterated that it is the compulsion of the present political scenario to put an end to the inner fights of the party. “I will not remain quiet anymore. If I do so, it amounts to betraying our leaders MGR, Jayalalithaa and the party cadre. Those who want to save the party and wish to serve the people can come,” Sasikala said in a strongly worded statement, alluding to the poor performance of the party in polls, particularly the dismal performance in Chennai South, Kanniyakumari and five other constituencies by losing their deposits.

Senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar’s son and former MP J Jayavardhan is one among the candidates who forfeited deposit. The party’s candidate for Vilavancode by-poll U Rani secured 5,267 votes and relegated to fourth place, after BJP and NTK candidates.

“Winning and losing is nothing new to our party. But, the kind of performance of the candidates in several constituencies is unjustifiable and it indicates that we have failed as a party. It also indicates a significant percentage of AIADMK votes migrating to the BJP in this election. It is bothering us badly,” said a senior functionary, preferring anonymity.

However, party organising secretary S Semmalai said that they retained its core vote bank and focus would be on course correction to bounce back in the forthcoming elections. “We consider this poll as a model exam. We will not repeat the mistake in the 2026 polls. The DMK lost over 6 per cent votes in these polls when compared to 2019 and were unable to get the anti-DMK votes to the optimum level. The BJP and NTK have secured most of it (anti-DMK votes),” he said.

He further said that various factors, including choice of candidates, have played against the party in the Lok Sabha polls.

Former AIADMK MP KC Palanisamy came down heavily on party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami for the poor performance of the party, indicating the erosion of the traditional vote bank of the AIADMK.

“The inner party rivalry undoing efforts of the party founder and leaders - MGR and Jayalalithaa. It lost at least 10 per cent of the core vote bank of the party in the last four to five years. The present leadership should keep their personal likes and dislikes aside and take measures to unify the party to restore it to its old glory,” he said.