Deposed AIADMK (Amma) general secretary V.K. Sasikala on Thursday returned to the Prappana Aghrahara prison in Bengaluru after the five-day parole granted to meet her ailing husband M. Natarajan came to an end. Sasikala left Chennai by road to reach the Bengaluru prison by around 4 pm.
Sasikala visited her ailing husband all the five days, for a brief time, before she set out to Bengaluru. Natarajan, 74, who has been under treatment for more than nine months, had undergone a dual transplant—liver and kidney—last week at the Gleneagles Global Hospital in Chennai.
Though Sasikala applied for 15 days parole last week, the prison authority had permitted her to be out of jail for only five days with conditions. As she was refrained from speaking to media or taking part in any political activities during the parole period, Sasikala seemed to have stayed indoors most of the time—either at her relative Krishna Priya’s house in T Nagar or at the hospital on OMAR where her husband is being treated.
However, banners hailing her as Thiyaga Thai and Thiyaga Thalaivi (mother of sacrifice and leader of sacrifice) were put up all around T Nagar. Though ministers like Sellur K. Raju, recalled her efforts in ensuring that the AIADMK government continued to exist, no high profile meetings happened at her residence.
“Do you think she still have to meet these party men to ensure that whatever she wants happens? Be it Sasikala or Dhinakaran or anyone in the Mannargudi family, they have their own way to get things done,” a senior leader close to the family told THE WEEK.
“She is not required to do that from being here. There is Dhinakaran and others in the family to take care of that. Also she can do it from being anywhere,” he added. Except for the first two days, there wasn’t much crowd in front of her T Nagar house.
According to sources, Natarajan’s health remains critical. Though the dual transplant was successful and his kidney is functioning normally, sources said, the doctors are still waiting for improvement with regard to liver.
Sasikala, a close confident of late former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, has been serving a four-year sentence since February 15 after the Supreme Court upheld her conviction in a corruption case by a trial court in September 2015.
