<div><p>V K Sasikala will reach Tamil Nadu from Karnataka, where she is resting after her recovery from Covid-19 infection, on February 7. However, her completing four-year imprisonment in a disproportionate assets (DA) case is already creating ripples in Tamil Nadu politics.</p><p>The close confidante of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa has made clear her political intentions by travelling in a car used by her friend with an AIADMK flag on it while leaving Victoria Hospital on January 31. Sasikala will travel to Chennai from Bengaluru on Sunday to a rousing welcome by her supporters at more than 40 “reception points” along the Bengaluru-Chennai National Highway.</p><p><strong>No impact</strong></p><p>Though the AIADMK top brass maintains Sasikala’s release will not have any impact on the government or party, many cadres have put up posters across the state welcoming Chinamma, as she is known as among her supporters. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam – who worked under Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s shadow, are already facing the heat from alliance partners who are upping their ante.</p><p>That the EPS-OPS duo is jittery over Sasikala’s release is evident from the fact that the government has “temporarily closed” the J Jayalalithaa Memorial inaugurated last week due to “ongoing work” on museum inside the complex. Interestingly, the spot where the memorial has come up – Jayalalithaa’s resting place – was the last spot Sasikala visited in Chennai on February 15, 2017 before she left for Bengaluru to serve four-year prison term in the DA case.</p><p>Any visit by Sasikala to Jayalalithaa’s memorial on the Marina Beach or to the late leader’s Poes Garden, now converted into a memorial house for her, would not be “good optics” for the chief minister and his deputy O Panneerselvam given that the Assembly elections are just a few months away, political observers feel.</p><p>“Everything is aimed at preventing her from staking the claim to Jayalalithaa’s legacy. But the going will not be smooth for the current AIADMK regime if Sasikala gets into active politics after her return from Bengaluru even if it is supported by the BJP,” a political analyst said on the condition of anonymity.</p></div>
<div><p>V K Sasikala will reach Tamil Nadu from Karnataka, where she is resting after her recovery from Covid-19 infection, on February 7. However, her completing four-year imprisonment in a disproportionate assets (DA) case is already creating ripples in Tamil Nadu politics.</p><p>The close confidante of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa has made clear her political intentions by travelling in a car used by her friend with an AIADMK flag on it while leaving Victoria Hospital on January 31. Sasikala will travel to Chennai from Bengaluru on Sunday to a rousing welcome by her supporters at more than 40 “reception points” along the Bengaluru-Chennai National Highway.</p><p><strong>No impact</strong></p><p>Though the AIADMK top brass maintains Sasikala’s release will not have any impact on the government or party, many cadres have put up posters across the state welcoming Chinamma, as she is known as among her supporters. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam – who worked under Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s shadow, are already facing the heat from alliance partners who are upping their ante.</p><p>That the EPS-OPS duo is jittery over Sasikala’s release is evident from the fact that the government has “temporarily closed” the J Jayalalithaa Memorial inaugurated last week due to “ongoing work” on museum inside the complex. Interestingly, the spot where the memorial has come up – Jayalalithaa’s resting place – was the last spot Sasikala visited in Chennai on February 15, 2017 before she left for Bengaluru to serve four-year prison term in the DA case.</p><p>Any visit by Sasikala to Jayalalithaa’s memorial on the Marina Beach or to the late leader’s Poes Garden, now converted into a memorial house for her, would not be “good optics” for the chief minister and his deputy O Panneerselvam given that the Assembly elections are just a few months away, political observers feel.</p><p>“Everything is aimed at preventing her from staking the claim to Jayalalithaa’s legacy. But the going will not be smooth for the current AIADMK regime if Sasikala gets into active politics after her return from Bengaluru even if it is supported by the BJP,” a political analyst said on the condition of anonymity.</p></div>