Jayalalithaa expels (ejects) long-time aide Sasikala n her 12 relatives from AIADMK

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has expelled long-time aide Sasikala from the AIADMK party after several alleged complaints of interfernce. Sasikala's 12 relatives have also been expelled.

She was a close confidante of Jayalalithaa for several years but her high profile lifestyle and the lavish wedding of her son were perceived to have alienated voters in the mid 90s.

After Jayalalithaa's defeat in 1996, she disowned Sasikala, who was also seen as interfering in the administration of the state. Even senior bureaucrats reportedly complained of interference. Sasikala has also been charged with Jayalalithaa in the DA case.

Among the others expelled are Sasikala's husband Natarajan, and V Bhaskaran who is already under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate.

This is really not the first time when Sasikala has been distanced from the party. After 1996 poll debacle Jaya had distanced Shashi but that was a short break.

Sasikala has been a close confidante of Jaya over the past several years. She had been seen with Jaya at major events including election campaigns.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's close said that trouble was growing when several bureaucrats had come in and expressed their displeasure to CM over Sasikala's interference into the administrative affairs and it was going beyond the tolerance level of Jaya. And that is what forced the CM to take such an extreme step of even expelling Sasikala from primary membership of the party.