Sasikala to start State-wide tour?

Chennai: Expelled AIADMK leader VK Sasikala reached Chennai early this morning, after having started from Bengaluru on Monday.

Travelling in a car driven by her long-time driver Prabhu, Sasikala who ensured high drama on her way here, reached her niece Krishnapriya’s home in T Nagar, after 22 hour journey.

Earlier, she visited AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister MGR’s residence and paid floral tributes to his statue.

AMMK deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran, has revealed that actor Rajinikanth had called to enquire about his aunt Sasikala’s well-being.

He said, “The kind of grand welcome Sasikala received on her return to Tamilnadu, has heralded a new chapter in the State’s history. Even actor Rajinikanth had called to enquire about her health”.

Amid speculations that Sasikala would embark on a State-wide tour to meet her supporters and interact with the public, the ruling party continued its attack on her.

Senior Minister O S Manian said, “Dhinakaran is giving us more trouble than our arch-rival DMK. He has no right to stake claim for the AIADMK. The Chief Minister is ready to face anything.”

While addressing her supporters during the journey to Chennai, Sasikala said she was indebted to the people of Tamilnadu but asserted she will not be cowed down by ‘oppression’.

Asked if she would visit the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai, she said ‘please wait and see’.

‘Sure, for party workers’, was her response when reporters asked if she would engage in active politics, months ahead of the scheduled Assembly polls in the state.

“I am bound by love, to the Tamil ethos and the principles I have embarked upon. But I can never be enslaved by oppression’, she told her loyalists. Her return to Tamilnadu, after completing a jail term for her involvement in a disproportionate assets case, is expected to create ripples in the political situation. When asked by reporters about the AIADMK Ministers filing police complaint against her use of the ruling party flag on her car, “she said, “I think it shows their apprehension”.

Responding to late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s memorial in Chennai being closed for maintenance, she said “the people of Tamiladu know very well what all this means”.

Asked about supporters’ demand to ‘wrest control of the AIADMK’, she said ‘I will meet you all soon. Will speak in detail’.