THE SASIKALA CONUNDRUM

On October 30, politicians of every hue in Tamil Nadu, led by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, made a beeline for the samadhi of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar at Pasumpon in Ramanathapuram district on his 114th birth anniversary.

-  Amarnath K. Menon

But the event honouring the late freedom fighter and spiritual icon was eclipsed by the buzz over the possible return to the AIADMK of another member of his Mukkalothor Thevar cohort, V.K. Sasikala.

Released from jail in January this year, after a four-year-long incarceration in a Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case, the late Jayalalithaa’s mercurial aide is suddenly making news again. Sasikala had gone to Thevar’s Pasumpon shrine a day ahead in a convoy bearing the AIADMK flag. During the week-long tour of Thanjavur, Madurai and Ramanathapuram districts in southern Tamil Nadu, Sasikala was greeted by supporters in many places. Some of them were also from the AIADMK, the party that had used her conviction as an excuse to expel her in 2017, even though she was then its all-powerful general secretary.

Prospects of her return to the party fold gained traction after ex-chief minister O. Pann ee r selvam (OPS), also a Mukkalothor, declared on October 25 that the apex body of the AIADMK will decide soon on the matter. This was right after OPS handed over the golden armour regalia that would adorn Muthuramalinga Thevar’s statue to the birthday celebrations committee. He was aware of Sasikala’s tour. The regalia, incidentally, was a gift from Jayalalithaa seven years ago to retain the goodwill of the Mukkalothor community.