CHENNAI: Late CM J Jayalalithaa ’s associate Sasikalaa has warned her close relatives, including her siblings and a host of nephews and nieces, to keep off the government and the party.Sasikalaa conveyed this to her family members at a meeting convened by her on Wednesday at Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence. A day later, she met ministers and partymen and directed them not to take instructions from her family members, a source close to the family said.Sasikalaa will continue to live in the house, said the source. “Now all family members are there; after they move out, her sister-in-law Ilavarasi is likely to stay back with Sasikalaa,” he said. There have been murmurs of discontent in the party and criticism on social media against Sasikalaa’s family members crowding the Rajaji Hall and taking position around Jayalalithaa’s body. In December 2011, Jayalalithaa had dismissed the entire clan, including Sasikalaa, from the party for “treachery and a conspiracy”. While the suspension against Sasikalaa was later revoked and she was taken back into the house, the other family members were forbidden from entering the place.Sasikalaa’s move is seen as an attempt to quell any criticism and build a political image that would be acceptable to the people and the party, said an AIADMK official. During the Thursday meeting, partymen appealed to Sasikalaa to accept the post of the AIADMK general secretary.“Some wanted her to be the CM. In an emotional speech, she turned down both saying she wanted to serve the people without the trappings of power,” said the source. For Sasikalaa, the biggest challenge is public acceptance. She also has the task of convincing lower level partymen who fear interference from her family members. “She made a big mistake by allowing family members to take centre stage at the funeral,” said another official seeking anonymity. It has been four days since Jayalalithaa died after a cardiac arrest, but the transition from ‘ Amma to Chinnamma’ could not have been smoother.So far, Sasikalaa’s strategies to ensure there’s no crisis in the administration have been implemented without a hitch. AIADMK too seems to have accepted her leadership without questions. The Thursday meeting with senior partymen was only a reiteration that little has changed in the new dispensation and is unlikely to change in the future too.