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Sasikala hospitalised in Bengaluru week before her release from prison
Sixty-three-year-old Sasikala who also suffers from hypertension, diabetes and hypothyroidism was admitted to hospital with cough and fever.
Just seven days before her release, the late J Jayalalithaa’s close aide V K Sasikala was shifted from Bengaluru prison to the Bowring Hospital as she complained of fever and breathlessness on Wednesday evening,
Sasikala, 63, who also suffers from hypertension, diabetes and hypothyroidism was admitted with cough and fever, said a medical bulletin from the hospital.
"On arrival at hospital, (her) oxygen saturation at room air was 79 % and febrile. Stable with supportive measures and antibiotics and oxygen. She will be further evaluated and monitored. Investigation reports are awaited," the hospital said in a statement.
Sasikala, a former interim general secretary of Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK, is serving a four-year jail term in the disproportionate assets case in Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara jail and is set to walk out in the morning hours of January 27 after completing her sentence and having paid a fine of ₹10 crore. Her release will not be affected due to her health, her lawyer Raja Senthoor Pandian told reporters.
“She is rapid (Covid test) negative now,” said Dr H V Manoj, director-dean of the hospital. “We have done all the investigations, her sugar was low and we are treating her. She was complaining of breathlessness and her saturation was around 80. After oxygen, she has become stable. She will be staying through the night.”
Pandian earlier said that none had met Sasikala recently due to pandemic restrictions. “I met her in March 2020 and I haven’t received permission to meet in person after that,” Pandian said on Tuesday while confirming the information of her release.
Sasikala’s release is expected to add another complicated dimension to politics in Tamil Nadu which goes to assembly polls in April-May. As a high-stakes behind-the scene operator, her moves will be keenly watched.
A day ago, after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK’s coordinator Edapaddi Palaniswami ruled out inducting Sasikala into the AIADMK after the party had expelled her and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran in 2017.
Sasikala’s supporters are now with Dhinakaran’s party the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK). Palaniswami also scorched at questions of whether their ally, the BJP was compelling the AIADMK to merge with the AMMK in its effort to defeat the principal opposition, the DMK saying her return to the party was “impossible.” Palaniswami will also inaugurate a memorial for Jayalalithaa in Chennai on January 27- the same day Sasikala is expected to walk out of prison.
