V. K. Sasikala

Vivekanandan Krishnaveni Sasikala (born 18 August 1954), also known by her married name Sasikala Natarajan, and often referred to by her initials VKS, is an Indian politician.

Sasikala was born on 18 August 1954 to C. Vivekanandam and V. Krishnaveni in Thiruthuraipoondi, located in the present-day Tiruvarur district.

Her parents belonged to an influential Kallar family and later moved to Mannargudi.

Her marriage to Maruthappa Natarajan in 1973 was presided over by DMK leader M. Karunanidhi.

She was a close associate of J. Jayalalithaa, the late chief minister of Tamil Nadu, who headed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) from 1989 until her death in 2016.

After Jayalalithaa's death, the party's general council elected her as a temporary secretary general of AIADMK.

Before entering the Central Prison in Bangalore, Sasikala appointed Edappadi K. Palanisamy as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalithaa took control of AIADMK from Ramachandran's widow V. N. Janaki, and Sasikala moved into her Poes Garden residence in 1989.

After Jayalalithaa became chief minister following the 1991 legislative assembly election, Sasikala's power and influence greatly increased, so much so that she was even more powerful than Jayalalithaa herself and the state ministers took orders directly from her.

In 1995, the wedding for Sasikala's nephew V. N. Sudhakaran was held and generated significant controversy due to the extravagant display of wealth, with many people believing that the AIADMK government was significantly corrupt.

Subramanian Swamy filed corruption cases against Jayalalithaa and her aides.

Jayalalithaa had adopted Sudhakaran in 1995, but disowned him in 1996.

The AIADMK lost the 1996 legislative election, particularly due to Sasikala's display of her expensive jewelry.

P. Chidambaram, who had promised to hold Jayalalithaa and Sasikala accountable, had the latter investigated after assuming the position of finance minister for the union government in June 1996, leading to her arrest under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.

Jayalalithaa distanced herself from Sasikala, but the two restored their friendship after Sasikala refused to implicate her and was released after ten months in prison.

AIADMK helped bring Atal Bihari Vajpayee to power after the 1998 general election.

In 1999, Sasikala helped organise a tea party for Swamy, who was upset with Vajpayee for not giving him the position of a cabinet minister.

The party was attended by Jayalalithaa and Indian National Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

The AIADMK helped bring down Vajpayee's government within a few days as AIADMK withdrew its support from the coalition headed by him.

On 19 December 2011, Jayalalithaa expelled Sasikala and 13 others, including Sasikala's husband, M. Natarajan, her nephew T. T. V. Dhinakaran, their relatives, and Jayalalithaa's foster son V. N. Sudhakaran from the AIADMK.

This act of Jayalalithaa's was considered a way to prove that she was not under the influence of Sasikala and her family.

The matter was resolved by 31 March 2012, when Sasikala was reinstated as a party member after issuing a written apology.

In a meeting held on 29 December 2016 – the first meeting after Jayalalithaa's death on 5 December 2016 – the AIADMK General Council appointed Sasikala as the party's temporary general secretary until a formal election was held for the post.

Palanisamy and other ministers removed her from the post and expelled her from the party in September 2017.

Her dismissal was upheld by the Madras High Court in December 2023.

After her expulsion she went to court over her dismissal as AIADMK general secretary.

In February 2017, a two-bench Supreme Court jury pronounced Sasikala guilty and ordered her immediate arrest in a disproportionate-assets case, in which Jayalalithaa was also involved, effectively ending Sasikala's chief ministerial ambitions.

She was released in January 2021.

On 5 February 2017, Sasikala was unanimously elected as the AIADMK Legislature Party Leader by a meeting of all the MLAs in the party.

Tamil Nadu governor C. Vidyasagar Rao accepted the resignation of Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on 6 February, and instructed him to continue functioning as acting chief minister "until alternate arrangements are made".

Her nephew T. T. V. Dhinakaran launched Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazhagam in March 2018, with Sasikala as its general secretary.

Natarajan died on 20 March 2018.

The two did not have any children.

Sasikala's husband was a public relations officer in the government of Tamil Nadu, who worked closely with the district collector of South Arcot, V. S. Chandralekha, who in turn was very close to Tamil Nadu chief minister M. G. Ramachandran.

These connections helped introduce Sasikala to J. Jayalalithaa, who was the propaganda secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) at the time.

Since Sasikala helped cover video of party meetings and distribution of policies of AIADMK through CDs, a friendship developed between the two and they became very close.

Sasikala became the person most trusted by Jayalalithaa.

After Ramachandran's death and the public humiliation of Jayalalithaa by AIADMK cadres who assaulted her at the funeral, Sasikala brought her relatives and 40 other people from Mannargudi for Jayalalithaa's protection.

Dhinakaran replaced her in April 2019.

She had four brothers: V. K. Dhivakaran, T. V. Sundaravadanam (died in 2020), Vinodhagan (died in 1993) and V. Jayaraman (died in 1991); and one sister, B. Vanithamani (died in 2011).