Chennai: She was teary eyed, but the drops that she wiped out marked yet another phase in her quest to reclaim the mantle of the AIADMK. Robbing the shine out of the AIADMK's golden jubilee, an emotional VK Sasikala, expelled general secretary of the party, paid floral tributes at the memorial of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday. It was four years since she had visited the samadhi on the Marina seafront and the first after her release from the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru. It was an act to send a message to the party workers and its captive vote bank that she is determined to be at the helm of affairs.
It was not without reason that the former confidant of Jayalalithaa had chosen to visit the memorial a day ahead of the commencement of the AIADMK's golden jubiliee year.
“I have placed all the burden of these five years before Amma. The AIADMK has a bright future for MGR (party founder and matinee icon M G Ramachandran) and Amma would continue to safeguard it.
The workers and the people know why my visit is delayed,” she told the media.
If her first visit in February 2017, before proceeding to the Bengaluru prison, saw a vengeful Sasikala thumping on the ground thrice to take retribution, this time she appeared having mellowed down but with a steely will. For her followers, mostly from her OBC Thevar community and cadres who are disenchanted with the present leadership, she is 'chinnamma' (mother's sister) and 'thiyaga thalaivi' (Leader who had made sacrifice – her prison term).
Though the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), the splinter group of the AIADMK led by her nephew, TTV Dhinakaran, has failed to make any significant impact, she continues to rattle EPS.
Days before the Assembly elections, she belied expectations of taking a political plunge and announced her political 'sanyas' only to break it in a month and engaging party workers through phone assuring them that she would lead the party once again. Earlier, when she was released from prison, Sasikala received a rousing welcome but was not permitted to visit the samadhi. And now, with the change of government, she has chosen a day that had taken the wind out of the sail of the present leadership of the AIADMK.
Though rattled, the AIADMK has put up a brave face dismissing the visit of no consequence. “Lakhs of people visit Jayalalithaa memorial every day and Sasikala is one among them. The AIADMK is like an elephant. If a mosquito sits on it and claims that the pachyderm rests on its shoulders, it is laughable,” was the reaction of AIADMK veteran and former minister D Jayakumar. “There is no place in the AIADMK for Sasikala,” he asserted adding “she could be awarded the Oscar.”
And political analysts are of the view that though Sasikala will continue to fight for a dignified space in the party, EPS might not be willing to cede ground.
“Even if MGR and Jayalalithaa return and seek the leadership, EPS will not yield,” quipped commentator Ravindran Duraisamy. However, Sasikala does not seem to be a woman in a hurry and her next move would be watched closely.
