With Dinakaran Too Behind Bars, Sasikala Stares at a Bleak Future

Bengaluru: On Tuesday night, Sasikala refused to eat dinner and asked the jail staff to inform her about the latest news on her nephew TTV Dinakaran. She was looking tense and was staring at the ceiling of her cell in the high security central prison at Parappana Agrahara on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Around mid-night a "friendly" prison guard knocked on the metal door of her cell and told her that the worst has happened – Dinakaran was arrested by the Delhi police for allegedly trying to bribe the Election Commission of India to retain two leaves symbol of the AIADMK. She is reported to have just looked at him and collapsed on her bed.

A top prison official, who spoke to CNN-News18 on condition of anonymity, said: “Her behavior has changed after alleged broker Sukesh Chandrashekhar was arrested by the Delhi police a week ago. Before that she was looking confident. When she came to know that he was arrested, her face turned pale and asked prison guards to give her all Tamil and English newspapers. On the same day Dinakaran was supposed to meet her at the prison. She was waiting for him. But even he did not come. It led to more anxiety."

According to this official, before the OPS and EPS camps started talking about the merger of two factions, a lot of top AIADMK leaders and ministers used to wait outside the jail seeking an appointment with "Chinnamma". She met only a few of them, but there used to be a steady flow of high-profile visitors from Chennai. Suddenly, all that has stopped after she was removed from the post of AIADMK General Secretary.

However, she is still getting home-cooked food. A local leader of the AIADMK has made arrangements for all that, say sources. “Earlier he used to visit jail every day. Even he has stopped coming in the last one week. We don’t know if home cooked food will continue to arrive at the jail in future” said another prison official.

He added that Sasikala had never expected this and her confidence level has now hit rock bottom. In the first one month of her jail term, hundreds of AIADMK leaders used to come to visit her from different parts of Tamil Nadu to express solidarity with her. Luxury hotels near the prison had a good business. Now no one is coming to see her and the hotels have seen a dip in their business.