Sasikala Natarajan, alias V.K. Sasikala, arrived in Bengaluru on Sunday and surrendered to the authorities of the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, after she was found guilty in a Disproportionate Assets case. She will now serve the rest of her prison sentence — three years and 11 months — in this jail.
Sasikala had tried in vain to delay her surrender and incarceration. Her counsel's plea to the court was shot down, and she was ordered to surrender forthwith. However, she did manage to delay her surrender for a little while by making some visits.
One significant visit was to the memorial of her mentor — former Tamil Nadu chief minister and All India anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief J Jayalalithaa. Once there, Sasikala, who is also called Chinnamma because Jayalalithaa was called Amma, broke down, and even thumped the memorial thrice, leading to speculation over her emotions. Another memorial she visited was of Jayalalithaa's mentor MG Ramachandran, who had founded the AIADMK.
Meanwhile, one of the many TN MLAs who had been held by Sasikala and other AIADMK members but managed to escape has lodged a complaint against her and current AIADMK Legislative Party chief Edappadi Palanisamy for holding him hostage, and the TN Police have subsequently filed a case of abduction in this regard.
What now remains to be seen is whether this hinders Palanisamy — currently the minister for Public Works, Highways and Minor Ports — from being elevated to the post of chief minister. If that is the case, then the road will be even clearer for O Panneerselvam to resume his duties as chief minister.
It may be recalled here that he had tendered his resignation from the post and that TN Governor C Vidyasagar Rao had even accepted his resignation. However, he remains the acting chief minister because nobody has taken oath after him.
