Sasikala visits ailing AIADMK veteran in hospital; flaunts party flag again amid comeback

In a crucial development, VK Sasikala visited the Apollo Hospital in Chennai on Tuesday to meet ailing AIADMK veteran E Madhusudhanan who rebelled against her by joining hands with O Pannerselvam in 2017. While Sasikala sacked him as the Presidium Chairman on February 10, 2017, he ousted her from the party a week later. Thereafter, he unsuccessfully contested the RK Nagar by-election as AIADMK's candidate against her nephew TTV Dhinakaran. 

However, it is perceived that the former AIADMK general secretary has been mending fences with the Paneerselvam camp since her release from jail earlier this year. After enquiring about Madhusudanan's health, VK Sasikala stated, "Madhusudanan was an MLC when MGR was heading AIADMK; he is very much attached to the party. I enquired about his health condition and conveyed my wish that he would recover soon to the family members".

Incidentally, ex-CM E Palaniswami and some other AIADMK leaders were present at the hospital around the same time and left the premises immediately after learning of Sasikala's visit. Another controversy came to the fore after the car she was travelling in sported the AIADMK flag. In the past, members of the party have asserted that she has no right to use this flag anymore. 

Sasikala to resume political activities

Sasikala was formally released from prison on January 27 after serving a 4-year jail term in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case. On March 3, Sasikala decided to step aside from politics to ensure that "all followers of Jayalalithaa stay together" to defeat DMK in the TN Assembly polls. However, in the last few weeks, multiple conversations of the ousted AIADMK general secretary have surfaced in which she is heard promising a fresh bid to take back control of the party post its debacle in the election. 

On her comeback trail, the late J Jayalalithaa's aide has been reaching out to lower-level and mid-level functionaries of AIADMK. Training guns on the present party leadership in these conversations, she has vowed to set the party right. Brandishing her political credentials, Sasikala recalled having given "advice" to AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran besides claiming credit for bridging the gap between the Janaki Ramachandran faction and the Jayalalithaa faction after MGR passed away.

In a big statement of intent recently, the ex-AIADMK general secretary declared that she will visit Jayalalithaa's memorial in Chennai and all districts of TN after the COVID-19-induced lockdown ends. 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. However, EPS ruled out the possibility of her having an impact on the party and accused the media of giving unnecessary hype to these conversations.