Two days after AIADMK Rajya Sabha member Sasikala Pushpa stunned Parliament by claiming to have been slapped by a “leader" of her party, her husband and son have rushed to the High Court fearing arrest.
Sasikala also alleged that she was being forced to resign from her MP post and was facing a life threat in Tamil Nadu.
Her husband Lingeswara Thilagam, 54, and son Pradeep Raja, 21, sought anticipatory bail from the court, apprehending arrest by Anna Nagar police in Chennai. Justice S Vaidyanathan before whom the case came up for hearing, has adjourned it to Monday.
The father-son duo said they could be arrested due to political hostility, and with a view to bringing `distress' to Sasikala Pushpa. In this regard, they referred to a wordy quarrel with a local resident, and said the police had registered a case for offences punishable under Section 294(b) (obscene song, words in a public place), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506(ii) (criminal intimidation brandishing weapons), against them.
In their petitions, they said, “Several persons are having a grudge against Sasikala Pushpa due to some political enmity, and a false complaint has been lodged wantonly against them in order to put Sasikala Pushpa in distress, and thereby put an end to her political career.”
On Monday morning, Sasikala was expelled from the party for a tussle she got into with DMK MP Tiruchi Siva at the Delhi airport last week. Sasikala had slapped Siva in full public view.
While speaking about the Tiruchi Siva episode, she alleged that she had been harassed by her party leadership for the incident.
Sasikala, in an emotional speech, told the Rajya Sabha that she was being forced to resign as an MP, and though she was grateful to Jayalalithaa for giving her opportunities, she was not willing to resign.