In his drive to mitigate the dominance of VK Sasikala's faction on the ADMK party following her arrival to Chennai after four years of imprisonment, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and ADMK's joint coordinator Edappadi Palaniswami had on Tuesday issued a new warning for the party members not to support and follow Sasikala's nephew and AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran. 

Underlining what has happened to the 18 ADMK MLAs who switched side and supported Dhinakaran, Edappadi Palaniswami has asked the members not to support Dhinakaran, in what has become his bid to tight the fortress around ADMK to block Sasikala's entry and causing a political drift within the party ahead of the legislative election, which is going to be the first state election for Edappadi Palaniswami as the Chief Minister. 

Palaniswami was campaigning for the assembly polls near Ranipet, Vellore district on Tuesday during which he issued the caution and warning, which has come hours after Sasikala's arrival in Chennai amid rousing welcome. The Chief Minister said that those who follow TTV Dhinakaran would meet a similar fate as that of the 18 MLAs, who quitted the ADMK and supported Dhinakaran. The Chief Minister said that all these 18 MLAs have now been left out halfway through with nowhere to go and people who follow Dhinakaran would meet a similar fate. 

By slamming Dhinakaran, the Chief Minister said that he was not a member of the ADMK for the last ten years. "Amma (Jayalalithaa) had expelled Dhinakaran from the party's primary membership and after her death, he announced that he was back in the party and tried hard to take control of the ADMK. But eventually, he failed", the Chief Minister added. During his speech, Edappadi Palaniswami had appeared cautious of not mentioning Sasikala's name anywhere but he maintained by saying that some people are trying hard to break the ADMK. 

Edappadi Palaniswami has further stated that the 18 MLAs who had quitted ADMK and supported Dhinakaran have now been left out by him and a similar fate will happen to anyone in the ADMK if they choose to support Dhinakaran and he added that Sasikala's faction would break the party in an attempt to help the opposition DMK to win the election. Following issuing the warning, the Chief Minister then flayed DMK President MK Stalin for launching false propaganda against the ADMK government. 

Edappadi Palaniswami had challenged Stalin for an open debate on the achievements of the government and added that Stalin, who does not attend assembly proceedings, has no idea of the welfare and development schemes launched by the ADMK government. The Chief Minister further pressed that the current government is only the government in the history of the state that had waived off farm loans of Rs 12,110 crores. According to reports, the Chief Minister said that the farmers will be receiving the certificates of farm loan waivers within two weeks. It is expected that the farm loan waivers will be benefitting around 16 lakh farmers. 

The Chief Minister's warning has come hours after the arrival of VK Sasikala in Chennai and after Sasikala's vow of plunging into active politics that shocked and ired the ADMK leaders who are working against Sasikala to block her to take the control of the party. Sasikala arrived in Chennai in the wee hours of Tuesday after a 23-hour long journey from Bengaluru amid sailing through a sea of supporters who showered a rousing welcome to her as she arrived in Chennai after completing the prison sentence and battling the COVID-19 viral infection. 

VK Sasikala's grand roadshow had gained nationwide attention and stirred fresh political debates about whether she will immediately plunge into active politics given the scale of the gathering that the state witnessed during her arrival. She has sent out a strong message to the ADMK leaders that she can't be separated from the ADMK and she also said that she will meet the supporters soon following which she would announce her political resurgence. Sasikala is currently staying in the residence that belongs to Krishnpriya, who is the daughter of Ilavarasi, in T Nagar, Chennai and it will become her new address. 

Must-read: From Bengaluru to Chennai in 23 hours...Highlights of VK Sasikala's arrival!