Current affairs

From ADMK flag to twisting the tale: VK Sasikala enters Tamil Nadu! What's next for ADMK?

By alagu, 08 February, 2021
Sasikala, ADMK, Tamilnadu, Politics

In the midst of sharp expectations and speculations that have been surfaced around her, VK Sasikala has entered Tamil Nadu in the morning hours of Monday after completing her four-year prison sentence in Bengaluru and she is hours ahead of arriving in Chennai. Sasikala has been in the incessant political limelight since she walked out of prison with various speculations on her political resurgence.

Sasikala has got released from prison on January 27, 2021, and when it was announced that she will be arriving in Chennai on February 7, the date was later changed to February 8 and as per the announcement, she started from Bengaluru at around 8 am on Monday and as she has been getting closer to her arrival in Chennai, the Tamil Nadu ruling ADMK has been on high alert and building the fortress to contain her political rise ahead of the state assembly polls. 

Amid ADMK's police complaint against Sasikala urging her not to use the ADMK flag, she departed from Bengaluru in a car that was used by late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with the ADMK flag. While thousands of her supporters had gathered on her way to welcome her, the ADMK flag on her car had irked the party leaders including Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, whom she nominated as the successor of Jayalalithaa, following which the Krishnagiri police department had directed her to remove the ADMK flag while she enters the state border in Hosur, failing which, legal action will be taken against her. 

However, twisting the tale, Sasikala had changed the car ahead of entering the Tamil Nadu border. She stopped over near the border, disembarked from the car with the ADMK flag, and boarded another car to reach Chennai. The high-level drama around her arrival has been getting covered nationally and in what has resembled a motorcade of the national and foreign leaders, Sasikala was escorted by hundreds of her supporters and security forces. 

Ahead of departing Bengaluru, Sasikala had paid floral tribute to Jayalalithaa and when she started to Chennai, her supporters had started to offer a grand welcome to her as she is coming to Chennai afresh and carrying the speculations on what's next for her. According to reports, the political observers say that her arrival and possible political resurgence would cause a drift within the ADMK when the current leaders are hoping to enjoy the fullest control of the party by containing her from taking over the reign.

ADMK has been unfolding the measures to block Sasikala's entry into the party like filing a police complaint against her in the bid of seniors leaders to claim the party and firing the party members who are supporting Sasikala and her arrival. The ADMK leaders had warned the members not to support her and under the guise of maintenance, they went on to close Jayalalithaa's memorial with the view of not letting her visiting the memorial, which would go in favor of her political resurgence. 

Sasikala will be arriving in Chennai on Monday afternoon and it has been expected that she will directly drive to the residence in T Nagar, which would become her new address. The reports close to the developments say she would take a rest for few days after which she would be unveiling the pack of shockwaves to the ADMK party, from where she was expelled by the current leaders after she went to prison. 

With all eyes on Sasikala on what's next for her, her supporters and members of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam don't want to miss the moment of her arrival in the state after the prison sentence and they have been offering a grand reception throughout her way to Chennai. The supporters have been celebrating her arrival by conducting traditional functions and bursting crackers while the ADMK leaders are closely watching the developments on how the party can tackle and address the intra-party political drift triggered by her arrival and how she can be contained from plunging into active politics ahead of the assembly poll, which is the first state election since the demise of Jayalalithaa and the first election for Edappadi Palaniswami as the Chief Minister.

As she returns to Tamil Nadu, the political observers had raised speculations on what's next for ADMK and besides fixing the alliance for the polls by meeting the demands of the allied parties, the major challenge for Edappadi Palaniswami is to ensure that the party won't get collapsed by her arrival and while countering allegations from the opposition, Palaniswami has been hoping to showcase him as the party's face after Jayalalithaa. In his bid of showcasing him as the party chief and that there is no drift in the party, during the arrival of Prime Minister Modi next week and during the campaign trail, he has pushed to face fresh troubles and challenges. 

 

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