In fresh leaked audiotape, Sasikala claims she fasted in jail for welfare of TN amid COVID

Former Jayalalithaa aide VK Sasikala has now claimed that she was 'fasting for the welfare of Tamil Nadu against COVID' while she was lodged in the Parappana Aghrahara prison in Bengaluru. The mountain of leaked audiotapes of Sasikala's purported conversations with the AIADMK cadre is growing bigger with each passing day, irking AIADMK leaders as speculations of her return to the party fold is increasing with each leaked conversation surfacing. 

'Fasted in jail for welfare of Tamil Nadu amid COVID': Sasikala

In the latest leaked audiotape of Sasikala's purported conversation with an AIADMK cadre, the former Jayalalithaa aide is heard saying that she was 'fasting' in prison so that the people of Tamil Nadu weren't affected by COVID. Reaffirming her plans to visit the AIADMK cadre after the lockdown curbs were eased in Tamil Nadu, Sasikala is heard saying that she could not sit idle and watch the 'two leaves' party getting wasted and that it required an immediate fix as it was in a bad position. 

Claiming that her soul revolved around the people of Tamil Nadu even while she was lodged in jail, Sasikala was heard telling an AIADMK cadre from Theni that she had moved out of politics with the hope that EPS and OPS would win the Assembly elections as 'promised'. Further, VK Sasikala noted that AIADMK would have retained power and would have returned for a third consecutive term if they had won the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, adding that the two leaves party was cracking the whip on cadre who spoke to her and were expelling them from the party. 

Sasikala vows to visit Jayalalithaa's memorial

Ex-AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala declared that she will visit the late J Jayalalithaa's memorial in Chennai after July 5. Located on Marina Beach, it is a 'phoenix' themed structure spread over 14,100 square feet which house the mausoleum of the late Tamil Nadu CM. During her last visit before leaving for jail in February 2017, she set the political circles abuzz after she took a vow to "defeat the conspiracy, avenge the betrayal and endure the hardship" by thumping Jayalalithaa's grave thrice. 

Republic TV accessed a new audiotape by Sasikala in which she told party cadre Jeevanantham, "Yes, they say the lockdown continues until July 5... So will see until then, post that will see the situation, and then go visit Amma memorial at Marina and then start visiting you all." 

The AIADMK factions - split & merger

In 2016, after the demise of then-CM J Jayalalithaa, her close aide Sasikala had taken over as general secretary but was later convicted and arrested in the disproportionate assets case. O Pannerselvam (OPS) - the then-deputy CM, quit as caretaker CM to make way for Sasikala. With his exit, EPS, who was chosen by Sasikala, was made the CM, which led to the party being split in the middle - EPS camp and OPS camp. Amid the impasse, the BJP had intervened to allow EPS to continue as CM and made OPS the party's Convenor, Deputy CM, naming the late Jayalalitha as the party's 'eternal' General Secretary. The convicted Sasikala was then thrown out of the party. Sasikala was released from Bengaluru prison on January 27, after completing her 4-year jail stint and she returned to Chennai.

In March 2021, a month after she was released from prison, Sasikala quit politics urging the AIADMK cadre to unite ahead of the polls and fight the DMK to 'continue Amma's AIADMK rule in Tamil Nadu for 100 years. Thanking the cadres for the love they showered on her, she announced that she will quit politics and will always pray to Amma and God to keep her golden rule alive. DMK managed to trump AIADMK, denying AIADMK a 3rd consecutive term in the recently concluded Tamil Nadu polls.