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Sasikala signals intent to fight back, uses AIADMK flag as she exits hospital
Sasikala's supporters still maintain that she is the genera secretary of the AIADMK despite being expelled from the party in 2017.
V K Sasikala left a Bengaluru hospital on Sunday, flaunting the AIADMK flag on her car, signaling her intent to fight the decision of her former partymen to expel her as Tamil Nadu gears up for another high-decibel assembly election later this year.
She appeared frail as she bowed to supporters who had gathered outside the hospital chanting ‘Vazhga Chinamma” (long live our mother’s sister), where she was being treated for over 10 days.
Analysts said the decision to use the flag was a message that she still belongs to the party and continues to stake claims as the closest heir to J Jayalaithaa's legacy amid the volatile political climate in Tamil Nadu.
"Sasikala will remain in Bengaluru for another week," said one person aware of the developments.
After consultations with an astrologer, the 66-year-old Sasikala decided to get discharged on Sunday just after 12.00 pm A cavalcade of at least 10 cars moved out of the hospital and into Prestige Golfshire, a high-end resort near Nandi Hills, about 45 km from Bengaluru.
She is expected to complete the seven-day quarantine period here and return to Tamil Nadu post 7 February in a grand homecoming of sorts, the first person cited above said.
Sasikala’s return has all but shaken up the existing equations within the faction-hit AIADMK with party leaders displaying mixed emotions on her imminent return to the state.
"She’s not even a member of the party, how can she use the flag? She has no basic rights whatsoever in the party. This is illegal,” said AIADMK spokesperson D Jayakumar.
Since her release from prison, the AIADMK has expelled two of its functionaries for putting up posters welcoming Sasikala as the ‘general secretary’.
Senior AIADMK leader KP Munusamy, however, indicated a possible reconciliation.
Calling Sasikala’s nephew and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief, TTV Dhinakaran an opportunist who tried to break the AIADMK, he said “If he (Dhinakaran) wants, he can submit a written apology seeking forgiveness for all his mistakes and to be accepted as a cadre, the leadership can take a call on his letter,” said Munusamy.
Dinakaran, on Sunday, shrugged off the use of the flag, stating that Sasikala is still "the general secretary of the AIADMK."
Just two months after Jayalaithaa's death in December 2016, the Sasikala faction of the party got into a bitter power struggle to oust O.Panneerselvam as chief minister.
Sasikala's bid for chief ministership was cut short after the Supreme Court convicted her and two others - Ilavarasi and V.K.Sudhakaran in a 21-year-old disproportionate assets case on February 14, 2017.
Her release from prison after serving a jail term has added to the intensity of the upcoming polls in which the AIADMK is consolidating its resources to take on its main rival, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
Sasikala had handpicked Edapaddi Palaniswami for the CM’s role, over current deputy CM Paneerselvam, who had officiated in that role through all of Jayalalithaa’s illness.
Following Jayalalithaa’s death in office in December 2016, Paneerselvam was swiftly sworn in as CM. Sasikala was elected as general secretary -- the highest post in the AIADMK-- previously held by MGR and Jayalalithaa. After Paneerselvam resigned to make way for Sasikala to be chief minister, in a dramatic turn of events, he rebelled against her.
But Pannerselvam and Edapaddi Palaniswami eventually merged their factions and expelled Sasikala and Dhinakaran. The party abated the general secretary’s post.
Sasikala had filed a petition in the Madras high court that the general council meeting held to expel her and appoint new positions were invalid The case is not yet listed, said her lawyer Raja Senthoor Pandian.
“The case is pending in court so she’s put the flag in her car. Chinamma will continue her legal battle. I floated AMMK democratically to reclaim the AIADMK,” Dhinakaran told reporters in Bengaluru.
“By using the flag, she is sending a message to the cadre that she belongs to the AIADMK but when the election commission has recognised the Palaniswami-Paneerselavm’s government and party as the true AIADMK, it’s a weak case in a civil court,” Ravindran Duraisamy, a Chennai-based political analyst said.
The election commission in 2017 allotted the party name and its symbol of two leaves to the present regime. “The status-quo of the AIADMK will continue. It’s a settled matter,” he said.
