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Sasikala’s car displays AIADMK flag amid Chinnamma chant by fans after discharge
Sasikala will get a grand welcome into Tamil Nadu when she returns there after a week. TN will head to the polls in a few months time.
Expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala on Sunday moved out of Victoria hospital in Bengaluru, where she was being treated for Covid-19, and into a private residence in the outskirts of the same city where she will remain for around one week, people aware of the developments said.
Sasikala's car had an AIADMK flag on the pole. She used the flag despite statements by the AIADMK leadership not to take her back into the party fold.
After consultations with an astrologer, Sasikala had decided to get discharged on Sunday just after 12.00 pm.
Sasikala was declared fit to be discharged on Saturday by medical authorities at Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMRCI, Victoria Hospital) where she was being treated for Covid-19 since January 21.
“Sasikala will be staying in a place around 30-35 km from here (hospital) but she will not be going to Tamil Nadu. She has to undergo a week of quarantine and probably, by around the 6th or 7th of February, she may return,” said one person in the know of things.
Her nephew and head of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) TTV Dinakaran is likely to announce the details of her return to Tamil Nadu.
People aware of the developments said that they are preparing a grand welcome for the 66-year-old leader into her home state which will head to the polls in a few months.
A convoy of at least 10 cars left the hospital with Sasikala, who was wearing a mask and gloves and bowed to all her supporters from inside the vehicle.
Several of her supporters gathered outside the hospital, screaming “Vazhga chinnamma” or long live Chinnamma (or mother’s sister) as she is fondly known among her supporters who were seen carrying photographs of Sasikala, her nephew and late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
Traffic came to a standstill as her convoy moved in the streets in a procession-like fashion. The police and her supporters were seen running alongside the car to clear any obstructions even as some people stopped and showered her car with flowers.
At least four body guards clung on to the car from the outside as it passed through Bengaluru heavy traffic.
Sasikala had completed her four-year prison term on 27 January.
Sasikala and two others-- Ilavarasi and VN Sudhakaran--were convicted by the Supreme Court in a 21-year-old disproportionate assets case on 14 February 2017, upholding a 27 September 2014 order by a special court in Tamil Nadu that also levied ₹10 crore fine each.
Her release comes months ahead of assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, where the AIADMK is expected to face a stiff challenge from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) .
Sasikala was convicted by the SC when she was in the middle of a bitter struggle with O Panneerselvam, the deputy chief minister.
Sasikala had handpicked Edapaddi Palaniswami for the CM’s role, over current deputy CM O Paneerselvam, who had officiated in that role through all of Jayalalithaa’s illness.
