Chennai, Nov 6 (BPNS)

Former Interim general secretary of AIADMK and close aide of late Chief Minister, J. Jayalalithaa, V.K. Sasikala has asked the Tamil Nadu government to speed up paddy procurement.

In a statement on Saturday, Sasikala, signed as the party general secretary, said that farmers were complaining that farmers were incurring losses as paddy sprouted in bags were getting wet in rains during the northeast monsoon lashing Tamil Nadu.

She also called upon the state government to clear the due of the farmers in Tamil Nadu especially in the delta region of the state.

The former aide of Jayalalithaa who is trying desperately for a comeback to the AIADMK said that several thousand bags of paddy were at the Direct Procurement Centres and still to be procured, farmers are forced to cover them with tarpaulin sheets and asked the government to immediately take steps to procure the paddy before it gets destroyed.

Sasikala is in the news after she had been staking claim for a comeback to the AIADMK with even the former Chief Minister, O.Panneerselvam announcing in the open that her return will be decided by the party high command. The section of party leaders led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami is fervently opposing any entry of the former interim general secretary back to the party fold with the former fisheries minister D. Jayakumar openly stating that she would never be allowed an entry to AIADMK.

The former aide of Jayalalithaa had recently during the golden jubilee celebrations of the party formation reached the MGR memorial in a car with an AIADMK flag and had in a plaque announced her as the party general secretary.