The challenges facing Sasikala
Chinnamma Sasikala has become Amma in Tamil Nadu and she took charge of the AIADMK on Thursday. Sasikala’s story is…
It was said that Sasikala Natarajan and J Jayalalithaa were like soul sisters. The story of how Sasikala Natarajan became a close confidante of Jayalalithaa is equally fascinating as well as mysterious.
Story has it that Sasikala’s husband R Natarajan was the Public Relations Officer (PRO) for an IAS officer-turned-politician VS Chandralekha and through him Jayalalithaa came in contact with Sasikala and slowly their closeness grew. Later, Jayalalithaa declared Sasikala as her sister not “related through blood” and when MGR was hospitalised, Sasikala started taking charge around Jayalalithaa's house. Initially, a section of Jayalalithaa's supporters resented their relationship.
Jayalalithaa, who had adopted Sasikala's nephew Sudhakaran, announced his wedding in September 1995 to Sathyalakshmi, the granddaughter of actor Sivaji Ganesan which raised many eyebrows. For, it was Ganesan who brought Jayalalithaa to the cinematic world. Sudhakaran later distanced himself from his 'aunt', following which he accused his aunt and her aide of making threatening calls to him.
In 1996, Sasikala was arrested by the then DMK government for violating the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). Jayalalithaa then distanced herself from her friend but soon came around a few months later.
On 19 December, 2011, Jayalalithaa expelled Sasikala and 12 of their relatives from the AIADMK's primary membership. However, Jayalalithaa admitted Sasikala back into the party on March 31, 2012. This was only after Sasikala pledged to sever her ties with all her relatives and to serve without nursing any public ambitions.
Sasikala is accused to have wielded immense power and amassed unaccounted wealth during the last three tenures of Jayalalithaa as chief minister. On September 27, 2014, Sasikala along with Jayalalithaa was sentenced to four years' imprisonment by a special court in Bangalore. While Jayalalithaa was asked to pay a fine of Rs.100 crore, Sasikala was ordered to pay Rs.10 crore. However, they were acquitted by the Karnataka High Court.
Today, as Jayalalithaa is no more, it would be interesting to note the changes and events that would develop in Sasikala’s life. Jayalalithaa passed away on Monday midnight after she suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening at the Apollo Hospitals where she was under treatment for nearly three months.
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