Chennai: What was in the realm of rumour has become a political hot potato. As assembly polls are approaching, a patch-up between the ruling AIADMK and VK Sasikala, jailed former confidant of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, at the instance of the BJP was confined to newsroom talk shows. But, with RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy advocating the re-entry of Sasikala to strengthen the AIADMK to take on a resurgent DMK, the cat is out of the bag. Now, he is in the firing line. For, his certification that the AIADMK is nationalistic though corrupt and the comparison of Sasikala 'parivar' as 'sewer' that could come in handy to douse the fire engulfing the house have stirred up a hornet's nest.
Justifying the coming together of the two factions, he argued that it was necessary for the AIADMK and BJP to face the DMK, determined to wrest power banking on anti-incumbency.
“When the house is on fire we do not wait for Ganga jal, but pour whatever is available, even sewer,” was his response to a reader's question at the 51st anniversary of 'Thuglak' on Thursday. Significantly, he made this comment in the presence of BJP national president JP Nadda.
However, his subsequent clarification a day later that he continued to treat the AMMK as a family fiefdom and Sasikala's extended family as a mafia has only added fuel to the fire.
“I still regard Amma DMK (AMMK sic) as Mannargudi Mafia as someone had said once. Even if they become part of the BJP-ADMK alliance I will regard them as only Mafia-like we regarded Chandraswamy as a sewer. We in Thuglak will continue to regard Mannargudi family as Mafia and they would turn ADMK into a family owned affair like the DMK. Our opinion will not change.” he said in a series of tweets.
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It was BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who had coined the term 'Mannargudi Mafia.'
Neither the AIADMK nor the AMMK has taken this kindly. Pouncing on the RSS ideologue, AIADMK spokesperson V Pugazhendhi retorted, “It is better for auditor Gurumurthy to refrain from poking his nose into the affairs of the AIADMK. Any decision on re-inducting Sasikala into the party is vested with Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), party's Co-Coordinator and Deputy chief minister, O Panneerselvam, Coordinator.”
It also drew flak from AIADMK veteran and Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar who charged the RSS ideologue as a person on the 'payrolls of TTV Dhinakaran'.
The reaction from TTV Dhinakaran, nephew of Sasikala and General Secretary of AMMK, was equally sharp. “It is the people of Tamil Nadu who will decide which is Ganga jal and sewer. Such analogies betray his standards,” was his response on Twitter.
This is not the first time that Gurumurthy has faced a backlash from the AIADMK. In 2017, his tweet taunting AIADMK leaders as impotent for the delayed action against TTV loyalists had ruffled the feathers of the AIADMK.
As it was the case earlier, this time too, the AIADMK leadership is keeping a studied silence on Gurumurthy's advice on a patch up. The AMMK has secured 5.25 per cent votes in the 2019 LS elections, which is enough to torpedo the victory of the AIADMK in a majority of seats. For, in the last assembly poll in 2016, the difference between the AIADMK which retained power under Jayalalithaa and the DMK was a mere one per cent. And herein lies the importance of Sasikala.
