chennai tamil nadu chief minister and aiadmk supremo j jayalalithaa on monday expelled her close associate sasikalaa natarajan and 13 others mostly sasikalaas relatives from the partys primary membership long regarded as an important member of the cms household sasikalaa also left jayalalithaas poes garden bungalow with her brood a terse aiadmk press release said sasikalaa and 11 of her family members are expelled from the primary membership of the party and relieved of their posts with immediate effect without giving any reason for their expulsion sasikalaas banishment comes in the wake of a series of resignations and sackings of key officials apparently appointed at sasikalaas behest sections within aiadmk burst into celebrations setting off fireworks in front of aiadmk headquarters in chennai and revealing the extent of dominance sasikalaa had over the party according to party sources she had antagonized many with her alleged efforts to ensure key posts in the party and state administration to those close to her and from her thevar community relatives of j jayalalithaas once close aide sasikalaa natarajan are shocked at the cms decision to oust her from the party a nephew of sasikalaa not willing to be named told toi it was shocking but we always respect amma she has all the right to take any decision we hope everything will be resolved soon theories abound for jayalalithaas move to snap her 30year ties with sasikalaa a party source said one cause of sasikalaas exit could be jayas bid to reassert herself within the party and douse speculation about possible machinations by sasikalaas family members to play greater role in the party the statement listed the names of sasikalaas husband m natarajan and his brother m ramachandran and several of her nephews including t t v dinakaran an exmp v bhaskaran in charge of j j tv v n sudhakaran jayas erstwhile foster son dr g venkatesh and her brother v k diwakar sasikalaas relative ravanan who oversees party affairs in coimbatore mohan who heads a citybased distillery and rajarajan soninlaw of her niece ilavarasi were also expelled a second release issued a few hours later announced the expulsion of two more relatives of sasikalaa including v mahadevan former state secretary of the jayalalithaa forum and his brother v thangamani jayalalithaas move is aimed at giving a better sense of direction to the administration and ensure cleaner governance it is also to ensure that no extraconstitutional authority directs the government and proper democratic functioning of the party founded by mgr said a source close to the aiadmk supremo this is the second time in their long association that jaya has distanced herself from sasikalaa in may 1996 soon after her partys disastrous assembly elections she announced her estrangement with sasikalaa saying she was snapping ties out of respect for the sentiments of the people and partymen there were widespread allegations then that the extravagant display of wealth during the wedding of sudhakaran sasikalaas nephew jayalalithaas foster son contributed to the partys electoral