Vivekanandan Krishnaveni Sasikala Chief Secretary of AMMK

Vivekanandan Krishnaveni Sasikala, married name Sasikala Natarajan, is an Indian politician and business Magnate from Tamil Nadu and Indian business person, who was the general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.[5][6] She was a close aide of J. Jayalalithaa, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who headed AIADMK from 1989 until her death in 2016. After Jayalalithaa's death, the party's general council unanimously appointed her as the interim secretary general of AIADMK. She is the aunt of T.T.V. Dhinakaran.

She was arrested along with Jayalalithaa on 7 December 1996 and was remand
ed to judicial custody for 30 days in connection with the Colour TV scam.[7] During Jayalalithaa's three tenures as Chief Minister, Sasikala was alleged to have laundered huge amounts of wealth amassed by Jayalalitha. On 14 February 2017, a two-bench Supreme Court jury pronounced her guilty and ordered her immediate arrest in a disproportionate-assets case, effectively ending her Chief Ministerial ambitions.

Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Meeting with Jayalalithaa
2.2 Expulsion from AIADMK
2.3 General Secretary of AIADMK
2.4 Chief Minister Elect of Tamil Nadu
3 Conviction
4 In media
5 References
Early life
Sasikala was born in a tamil family from Thiruthuraipoondi who later moved to Mannargudi.[8] Her marriage to M. Natarajan was presided over by DMK leader M. Karunanidhi.[9] Her husband, who was a public relations officer in the Government of Tamil Nadu, worked closely with the District Collector of Cuddalore, V. S. Chandralekha, who in turn was very close to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran.[10][clarification needed]

Career
Meeting with Jayalalithaa
In the early 1980s, M. Natarajan requested V. S. Chandralekha, who was then the District Collector of South Arcot, to introduce his wife Sasikala to Jayalalithaa, who was then the Propaganda Secretary of the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, for recording video of party functions. Sasikala and Jayalalithaa gradually became very close.[11]

Expulsion from AIADMK
On 19 December 2011, Jayalalithaa expelled Sasikala Natarajan and 13 others including Sasikala's husband M. Natarajan, T. T. V. Dhinakaran, their relatives, and Jayalalithaa's disowned foster son V. N. Sudhakaran from the AIADMK.[12][13] Jayalalithaa alleged that Sasikala and her family were working against her.[14] The matter was resolved by 31 March 2012, when Sasikala Natarajan was reinstated as a party member after issuing a written apology.[15]

General Secretary of AIADMK
In a meeting held on 29 December 2016 – the first after Jayalalithaa's death on 5 December 2016 – the AIADMK general council unanimously appointed Sasikala as the party's general secretary.[16][17][18]

Chief Minister Elect of Tamil Nadu
On 5 February 2017, Sasikala was unanimously elected as the AIADMK Legislature Party Leader by a meeting of all the MLAs in the party.[19][20] Tamil Nadu Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao accepted the resignation of Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on 6 February 2017, and instructed him to continue to function as acting Chief Minister "until alternate arrangements are made".[