Sasikala unveils name of new party, says will fight Assembly polls with allies

Expelled AIADMK leader V. K. Sasikala on Friday announced the name of her newly launched political outfit All India Puratchi Thalaivar Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam , weeks after declaring her plan to float a party, and said it would contest the upcoming Assembly elections in alliance with like-minded parties.

Sasikala made the announcement while interacting with reporters, outlining her initial plans for the organisation and its electoral strategy. She said the party would not contest elections alone and would instead seek alliances to strengthen its prospects.

“We will form an alliance with like-minded parties. Some people prefer to contest alone saying they do not need an alliance. But we are not like that. We must do good for the people of Tamil Nadu ,” she said.

Earlier, on February 24, coinciding with the 74th birth anniversary of AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa , Sasikala had unveiled the party’s flag at Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram district. The event was seen as a symbolic tribute to Jayalalithaa, with whom Sasikala shared a long political association.

She also announced that the party’s election symbol would be the ‘coconut grove’ , which she said represents unity and collective strength. “Did you see our party symbol? It is the coconut grove. We always think of it as a collective grove,” she told reporters.

Sasikala, a long-time confidante of Jayalalithaa, had been a prominent figure in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for decades and was often regarded as an influential presence within the party leadership. However, following political developments after Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, she was expelled from the party amid internal power struggles.

Her political career has also been marked by legal challenges. In 2017, the Supreme Court of India upheld her conviction in the Disproportionate Assets Case against Jayalalithaa , sending her to prison for four years when she was poised to assume the Chief Minister’s post.

After completing her sentence in 2021, Sasikala gradually returned to public life and political activity. The formation of the new party is being viewed as her latest attempt to re-enter the state’s political arena and consolidate support ahead of future electoral contests.