Sasikala a free bird, but still in hospital

Former AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala, 66, was released on Wednesday after spending 4 years in a jail here in a Rs66 crore disproportionate assets case. Despite the release, she will not be a free person as she has to remain at the Victoria Hospital where she is being treated for Covid-19.

Officials of the Central Jail in Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara completed the formalities of her release at the hospital. She will continue staying at the hospital for 4-5 days more, sources said.

“She is not fit for discharge as of Wednesday. She is being given intermittent oxygen supply and is stable. She will have to stay in the hospital for 3 more days,” they said.

Supporters plan to give Sasikala a warm welcome all the way from Bengaluru to Chennai. Her supporters have already started camping at Victoria Hospital waiting for her release.

Meanwhile, after visiting her aunt after her formal release, TTV Dinakaran said “Chinamma is coming back, we will form Amma’s government in Tamil Nadu.”

Her supporters echoed the views of Dinakaran. Her close associates say on arrival in Chennai, Sasikala would start opening channels of communications with leaders who had openly supported her in the past. Having worked closely with the former CM Jayalalithaa, Sasikala knows the strengths and weaknesses of all the leaders and use it to her advantage. Though she cannot contest the polls, she may try to prop up Dhinakaran’s party, the AMMK.

She also has the option to tie up with the BJP and help the NDA in Tamil Nadu by not jeopardising the AIADMK and being a part of an AIADMK-BJP-AMMK alliance. This is what RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy had suggested a few days ago.