Emotional Sasikala Pays Tribute to Former TN CM Jayalalithaa at Her Memorial

Video Producer: Naman Shah

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj

VK Sasikala, the former interim general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) visited former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's memorial at Marina in Chennai on Saturday, 16 October.

This is her first visit to the memorial since she was released from Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara prison after serving four years there in the disproportionate assets case.

Massive crowds were seen at the memorial as an emotional Sasikala offered floral tributes to her friend Jayalalitha. She also reportedly visited the memorials of AIADMK party founder MG Ramachandran and that of Dravidian leader CN Annadurai in Chennai.

Sasikala's Visit Comes Ahead of AIADMK's Golden Jubilee Celebration

Sasikala had recently said that she will return to take over AIADMK as she was disappointed at the party's performance in the last two years.

VK Sasikala makes a public appearance at Jayalalithaa’s resting place at Marina beach. She also visited the memorials of MGR and CN Annadurai. The public spectacle even after announcing earlier this year that she has quit politics. ⁦@TheQuint⁩ pic.twitter.com/gFVQMQ1aCd

— Nikhila Henry (@NikhilaHenry) October 16, 2021

Her last visit to Jayalalithaa's memorial was in 2017 before she was to go to the Bengaluru prison to serve the four year term in the disproportionate assets case.

At that time, she had dramatically hit the memorial ground three times in short intervals and took a vow that she would overcome the hurdles and that she would take revenge against people who had betrayed her.

Her visit on Saturday comes ahead of the golden jubilee celebration of the founding of AIADMK.

Just a few days ago, the party also saw a defeat in the state's rural local body elections. The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its allies swept the local body elections held in the nine newly constituted districts in Tamil Nadu on 6 and 9 October.

Soon after her release from the prison in February, this year, it was highly anticipated that she would visit Jayalalitha's memorial, however as the public works department of the state was carrying out construction work near the memorial, she could not visit it.

Ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assemby elections that was held on 6 April, this year, Sasikala had announced that she was quitting politics. In her statement, she had asked her supporters to stay united and fight aganist the common ememy – DMK – in the Assembly elections.