Chennai: The ruling AIADMK put up a united front on party icon J Jayalalithaa’s birth anniversary celebrations on Wednesday with leaders lighting lamps symbolising loyalty to the party, in an apparent bid to keep the flock together and wary of the V K Sasikala factor in a crucial election year.
Led by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, Ministers, MLAs, MPs, office-bearers, and cadres lit traditional lamps in their respective residences in the evening and took a pledge to guard the people and party in ‘Amma’s path.
Thousands of party cadres lit lamps across Tamil Nadu as they remembered their iconic leader.
The symbolism assumes significance in the wake of expelled leader Sasikala’s (confidante of Jayalalithaa) return to Tamil Nadu from Karnataka, and her nephew and AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran’s stand on retrieving the AIADMK.
Palaniswami and Panneerselvam, in an apparent message of unity at the level of top leadership, exchanged…