Sasikala returns to Chennai, posters seek AIADMK unity
Determined to capture the reins of the AIADMK and to lead the party to victory in the Assembly elections later this year, V.K. Sasikala, former aide of J. Jayalalithaa, returned to Chennai on Monday after four years of imprisonment in Bengaluru with lakhs of supporters lining up to welcome her all along the highway.
Speaking near Vaniyambadi, Ms Sasikala evoked the sentiments of the crowd by quoting an old MGR song to drive home the point that she was a slave to love, a slave to Tamil culture and a slave to her people but would never be cowed down by oppression.
Calling for AIADMK unity, by terming the party cadre as the chil- dren of one mother, she wanted them to be on a single line as her aim was to ensure their common enemy was stopped rom coming to power. “We shall not give in to the divide and rule policy of our enemy. Our great organisation should not be wrecked for the personal likes and dislikes of some individuals,” she declared, hitting out at both the DMK as well as the AIADMK’s current leadership.
The crowds gathered
since early morning to give a grand reception to the former AIADMK general secretary, who was expelled by the present leadership. All through her journey on the BengaluruChennai highway, flowers, bouquets, garlands and folk dances greeted her as hordes of supporters waved both AIADMK and AMMK flags as her convoy inched its way home.
Ms Sasikala, who started from the farmhouse in Bengaluru’s suburbs, where she was staying since her release from Parappana Agrahara Jail on January 27, in a car with the AIADMK flag on the bonnet at 7.40 am was escorted till the Tamil Nadu border by a Karnataka police vehicle.
As she entered Tamil Nadu at around 10 am, the flag was removed from her vehicle. But Ms Sasikala herself changed cars and boarded a Toyota MUV with the AIADMK flag on the bonnet. Though the police had given prior warning that she wouldn’t be allowed to use the flag of the party from which she was expelled, nothing could be done to the flag on the vehicle, which belonged to a AIADMK leader.
Driving through a sea of supporters who gathered at various points on the highway, Ms Sasikala, in a shimmering green saree and face mask, accepted the greetings of the people with folded hands.
Wherever her vehicle slowed down or stopped, flower petals were showered over it.
The accumulation of flowers on the car’s front windshield had to be repeatedly cleared and at one point an AMMK flag was used to clear the petals. Several cars and escort vehicles of private securitymen formed part of the convoy that meandered its way towards Chennai, causing severe traffic snarls at various points.