Sasikala released from prison; speculation grows about her role in TN politics

Four years after being convicted in the Rs 66 crore Disproportionate Assets case by the Supreme Court in 2017, former AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala has been released from the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru. The close aide of former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa is undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at the Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru. Sasikala was formally released after all jail formalities were completed by the prison authorities.

The family members of Sasikala—including her brother Dhivakaran’s son Jeyaandh Dhivakaran and her co-sister Ilavarasi’s son Vivek Jayaraman—are present in the hospital to call on Sasikala. Meanwhile, her nephew and AMMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who is camping in Bengaluru since Tuesday, is yet to meet her at the hospital. The jail officials on Wednesday morning completed all the formalities with regard to her release from the prison. Legal documents confirming her release were signed by her advocate, Raja Senthoorpandian, and her family members. Sources close to Sasikala say that her return to Chennai will be decided on Wednesday evening after taking the advice of the doctors at the hospital and based on her health condition. “She is asymptomatic for COVID-19 and is conscious,” read the hospital bulletin released at 9am on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a large number of her supporters from Chennai and Tamil Nadu were seen waving the AMMK flags in front of the hospital, following her release.

“She is taking oral food and is walking with support,” read the health bulletin. However her quarantine period ends only on January 31 and sources say that it will be decided whether she will stay back in Bengaluru or come back in Chennai to be in self-isolation. The 66-year-old aide of Jayalalithaa, who was undergoing her four-year jail term, was shifted to the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital after she had complaints of fever and breathing difficulties. Later, she was shifted to the ICU at the Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru for COVID-19 treatment.

Incidentally, Ilavarasi was also infected with coronavirus and is also undergoing treatment. In the meantime, Sasikala’s release has triggered intense speculation in Tamil Nadu politics, as she was closely involved in all the political activities of Jayalalithaa. After the death of Jayalalithaa, while former chief minister and the present Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam went on a ‘Dharma Yudh’, the AIADMK general council resolved to make her the general secretary of the party. Sasikala also, on December 31, 2016, took over as the general secretary of the AIADMK. And then she was elected by the MLAs as the chief minister, but could not assume office due to her conviction. She then helped the MLAs elect Edappadi K. Palaniswami as the chief minister.

Sources close to Sasikala’s family say that she will be involved in active politics after her return to Chennai, as the state is to face a very crucial Assembly election. Sources also say that she will play a major role in deciding the fate of the ruling AIADMK. However once she is back in Chennai, Sasikala would stay at the residence of her niece J. Krishnapriya in T. Nagar.