Sasikala 'Rejected' In Hashtags, Memes And Rap Song In Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Chennai rap artist Sofia Ashraf, famous for her song "Kodaikanal Won't", has a new song now viral in which she laments VK Sasikala being chosen by the ruling AIADMK to be Tamil Nadu's next Chief Minister. Ms Sasikala is expected to take oath soon amid a big backlash from both citizens and rival political parties who question her credentials for the top post and also point out that she was not the choice Tamil Nadu made last year when it re-elected the AIADMK for an unprecedented second straight term.

Many are incensed at the ruling party's decision on Sunday that O Panneerselvam would step down as Chief Minister in favour of Ms Sasikala, who has never contested an election and entered active politics only after the death two months ago of J Jayalalithaa, whose live-in companion she was for years. The 61-year-old also faces charges of corruption and the Supreme Court will decide, possibly next week, whether she conspired with Ms Jayalalithaa to accumulate wealth exceeding their known sources of income in the 1990s. At Chennai's Marina Beach, people NDTV spoke to voiced sharp criticism for the manner of Sasikala's elevation. "What an insult to Tamil Nadu. What do they take us for?" said a school teacher Sasikala.

On Twitter, hashtags such as #TNSaysNo2Sasi have been trending ever since the announcement was made and memes and jokes about Ms Sasikala are being shared. As is the video of Sofia's song in Tamil, which talks of "cheating voters" and "fooling people" and says "My vote is not for you." It has been viewed over 70,000 times.

Sofia's group recorded the song at Poes Garden, the posh address where Ms Sasikala lives, on Sunday night, hours after the AIADMK announced that she had been elected by party legislators to be Chief Minister. Ms Sasikala had earlier been elected by the party as its chief, days after Ms Jayalalithaa died in December last year.  

"It is the right of AIADMK MLAs to elect their leader. It is the right of the people to ask if the leader deserves to be CM," tweeted Congress leader P Chidambaram, who belongs to Tamil Nadu.

Main opposition party the DMK too has protested, with its MK Stalin pointing out that the people of Tamil Nadu had "voted for a government to be headed by Ms Jayalalithaa in May, 2016 and not for one to be run by Mr Panneerselvam or any other person from Ms Jayalalithaa's household".

"One thing is certain that the government - in its present form - is clearly one that doesn't have the explicit legitimacy of having been elected by the people," Mr Stalin said.

A Chennai resident on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court to stop Ms Sasikala from taking over as Chief Minister.

In assembly elections held in May last year, Ms Jayalalithaa was re-elected as Chief Minister with her party winning 135 of the state's 234 seats. Ms Jayalalithaa was hospitalised in September and never came out. Hours after she died on December 5, O Pannerselvam, her most senior minister, who had stood in for her twice when she had to step down, took oath as Chief Minister. He resigned on Sunday.