Four Tamil Nadu ministers visited Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara jail on Tuesday to visit AIADMK General secretary and Disproportionate Assets case convict VK Sasikala. Sasikala, prisoner number 9324, currently shares a cell in with her sister-in-law Ilaivarasi.
The group of Ministers who left from Chennai in the morning included Sengottaiyan, Dindigul Srinivasan, Kamaraj and Sellur Raju. Their meeting with the party's General Secretary began close to 3pm and lasted for less than an hour. The Ministers evaded questions from the waiting media about the reason for their visit.
VK Sasikala surrendered at the Bengaluru jail on February 15, a day after the Supreme Court set aside the Karnataka High Court’s acquittal, and upheld a special court’s conviction in the Disproportionate Assets case.
Before she left however, she ensured that AIADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami was elected as the Legislative Party chief. He later went on to prove his majority on the floor of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, and remained the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
Their visit comes on a day when the Madras High Court has dismissed a PIL challenging the appointment of VK Sasikala as the party General Secretary. In addition to this, the AIADMK had also responded on Tuesday to the Election Commission's notice regarding Sasikala's elevation. In its reply, the party claimed that by-laws of the party's constitution had been amended to allow them to elect VK Sasikala to the post.
The AIADMK had received the election commission's notice soon after members of the OPS camp, led by Rajya Sabha MP Maitreyan, challenged the legality of Sasikala's appointment as General Secretary. The group had cited the party constitution to question the elevation.