Sasikalaa returns to Jaya’s Poes Garden residence

CHENNAI: Sasikalaa Natarajan on Monday returned to chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence in the city as the long-time friends patched up more than three months after their bitter parting. Sources said Sasikalaa entered the house at an auspicious hour and to a traditional welcome. In December last, the AIADMK chief had expelled Sasikalaa and her relatives from the primary membership of the party and got her friend to move out of her residence, where she had been living for the past 24 years.
Last week, Sasikalaa, in an emotional letter, said she was ignorant about a conspiracy hatched by her relatives . She said she only had Jayalalithaa’s well-being at heart and had never once dreamt of harming or betraying her friend of nearly three decades.
On Saturday, Jayalalithaa issued a statement revoking Sasikalaa’s expulsion but maintained that her relatives would continue to stay out of the party. On Monday, the two friends were back together.
“A car was sent to pick up ‘Chinnamma’ (Sasikalaa) from T Nagar, where she was residing for more than three months. The car returned to the chief minister’s Poes Garden bungalow around 4pm. Amma (Jayalalithaa) came out to the portico and welcomed Sasikalaa. It was an emotional scene,” a party source, present during the reunion, said. The friends were meeting each other after more than 100 days.
According to a state minister , the chief minister had informed her cabinet colleagues about Sasikalaa’s return a couple of days ago. “Amma informed us about her return and she also conveyed a strong message to the ministers not to entertain any of Sasikalaa’s family members just because of the latest developments. She also said we should continue to take instructions only from her,” the minister said.
In her two-page letter to the AIADMK chief, which was released as a statement, Sasikalaa said she was not interested in posts or positions and had no desire to be in public life.