Sasikala visits Jayalalithaa's memorial in Marina beach; first since release from prison

Chennai, Oct 16: VK Sasikala, the former interim general secretary of the AIADMK, visited the former chief minister J Jayalalithaa's memorial on the Marina Beach in Chennai.

An emotional Sasikala was seen paying floral tributes and homage to her close friend J Jayalalithaa at the Marina beach in Chennai.

This is Sasikala's first visit to the memorial after her release from the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru where she served a four-year jail term in a disproportionate assets case.

This is seen as a hint at resumption of efforts to regain control of AIADMK, which she and her nephew Dhinakaran lost years ago, after she was imprisoned in 2017 February following conviction in a disproportionate assets case.

In March this year, Sasikala had said that "she will stay away from politics," but would pray for of Jayalalithaa''s "golden rule".

Sasikala became AIADMK interim general secretary following Jayalalaithaa''s demise in 2016 and this appointment was rescinded at a general council meet in 2017 and it also announced invalidation of all the appointments made by Dhinakaran.

This meet also created new posts of coordinator and co-coordinator for OPS and EPS respectively, giving them all powers and their factions came together, while Sasikala and her followers were dislodged.

Since then, the AIADMK had made it clear that there was no scope for rapprochement with Sasikala or her relatives.

Eventually, Dhinakaran floated the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) in 2018 and had said often that retrieval of the AIADMK was his outfit's goal.

After completing her four year prison term in Bengaluru, Sasikala, who had a real clout in the AIADMK during the days of Jayalalithaa, returned to Tamil Nadu on February 8, 2021.

On her return, she had indicated that she would be involved in active politics but later announced her decision to stay away. The two audio clips featured in a bulletin in Jaya Plus Tamil television channel, seen as pro-Sasikala besides other channels.