After the former AIADMK leader, VK Sasikala returned to Tamil Nadu on Monday to a grand welcome by supporters ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, the AIADMK expelled seven office-bearers from the party for alleged "anti-party activities."
The party's deputy secretary of Thiruvallur district Dhakshinamurthy who reportedly given his car to VK Sasikala for her return to Chennai which carried the ruling AIADMK's flag.
The AIADMK flag controversy
During her journey from Bengaluru to Chennai, Sasikala used cars belonging to AIADMK member Dhakshinamurthy and Sambangi to foil any attempt of the police to remove the party flag. The party had earlier filed a complaint against the use of the AIADMK flag by 'outsiders', reported India Today.
Along with Sambangi, the AIADMK expelled seven-party functionaries for anti-party activities. Unfazed by the police complaint lodged against her by AIADMK for using the party flag a few days ago, Sasikala's vehicle carried the flag.
After Sasikala used an AIADMK flag on her car after her discharge from a hospital in Bengaluru last week, the AIADMK had lodged a complaint with the police in Chennai. The ruling party leaders urged the DGP to stop her from using the party flag.
People in the convoy and those welcoming Sasikala were seen carrying flags of both the AIADMK and the AMMK.
Sasikala returns
Sasikala was released from jail on January 27 on completing four-year jail term in a Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case. Policemen were deployed in large numbers at Hosur on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. The police removed posters put up by Sasikala's supporters at few places.
Clad in a green colour saree, 'Chinnamma' as Sasikala is fondly called was sitting in car. She was seen responding to the greetings of the supporters with folded hands.
She will stay at her niece J. Krishnapriya's residence in Chennai's T. Nagar area. Krishnapriya is the daughter of J. Ilavarasi, Sasikala's sister-in-law, who was also sentenced in the disproportionate assets case.
Sasikala was released from prison on January 27. She, however, remained at the Government Victoria Hospital, where she was admitted after testing positive for Covid-19 while under judicial custody. After her discharge from hospital on January 31, she was staying in the resort to complete her quarantine period.
Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Jayalalithaa's disowned foster son V.N. Sudhakaran were sentenced to four years imprisonment by the Supreme Court in the disproportionate assets case in 2017.
The case was originally filed against Jayalalithaa and the three others for amassment of assets disproportionate to their known sources of income between 1991 and 1996. The trial court in Bengaluru had convicted all the four but the Karnataka High Court later acquitted them.
(With inputs from wires)
