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Invoking late All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stalwarts M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala on Monday called for unity to jointly defeat the "common foe" and announced her intention to engage in active politics, four years after she completed a prison term in a corruption case in Bengaluru.
Whenever the party faced challenges, it has risen like a 'phoenix,' she said alluding to the mythical bird, even as she kept up the suspense on going to the AIADMK headquarters at Chennai, the building of the ruling dispensation she once controlled.
Both Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa are former chief ministers of the state.
In her first comments days after being discharged from a hospital in Bengaluru where she was treated for Covid-19 post her release from the prison, Sasikala asserted she will not be cowed down by "oppression".
"I have come out of corona due to divine intervention and the blessings of my akka (elder sister) Puratchi Thalaivi Idaya Deivam (God) Amma who lives in the hearts of the people," she said addressing supporters in Tirupathur en route to Chennai from Bengaluru.
Jayalalithaa is also addressed as Puratchi Thalaivi, meaning revolutionary leader and Amma.
Sasikala said she would dedicate the rest of her life to ensure Jayalalithaa's oft repeated statement that AIADMK will exist for a 100 years even after her and would follow the principle of "family is the party, party is the family."
"Puratchi Thalaivi's children are forever mine too. The party has faced so many challenges and had risen like a phoenix. In lines with the golden words of Puratchi Thalaivar (Ramachandran), we should stand united..."
"My desire is that we must jointly work to ensure our common foe does not come to the ruling saddle again in Tamil Nadu," she said without naming anyone.
It was the duty of all to ensure there should be no place for 'divide and rule' by political opponents and the 'grand' movement which was walking the path laid down by Ramachandran, the founder, "should not collapse due to the whims and fancies of a few," she added.
She said she will strive for the AIADMK's welfare till her last breath and said workers should remain united and ensure victory in the coming polls.
Any challenges will be faced with the blessings of Jayalalithaa, Sasikala added.
Quoting late Ramachandran, she told her loyalists: "I am bound by love, to the Tamil ethos and the principles I have embarked upon as well as the people of Tamil Nadu. But I can never be enslaved by oppression."
Later, answering reporters' query if she would visit the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai, she said "please wait and see."
"Sure, for party workers," was her response when scribes asked if she would engage in active politics, months ahead of the scheduled assembly polls in the state.
The AIAMDK, however, reiterated Sasikala and those with her had nothing to do with the party and that it was illegal on their part to use the party flag as she travelled in a car sporting it, for the second time in the last two
weeks.
Senior AIADMK leader and Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar took exception to Sasikala using the party flag and recalled the AIADMK's police complaint against it.
"Sasikala and her aides have no link to AIADMK... it is illegal for anyone else (other than party functionaries) to use the flag," he told reporters at Chennai.
When asked if the ruling camp was 'nervous' about Sasikala's return, Jayakumar said "there is no need for us to panic." It was Dinakaran who will be nervous as Sasikala may seek explanation from him on many issues, he added.
Earlier, Sasikala returned to Tamil Nadu to a grand reception, days after completing her jail term in Bengaluru in the Rs 66.6 crore disproportionate assets case, amid indications of a confrontation with the ruling party.
She underwent her sentence at the Parapana Agrahara central prison in Bengaluru since February, 2017 and was set free on January 27.
However, she remained at the Government Victoria Hospital, where she had been admitted after testing positive for COVID-19 while under judicial custody.
She was discharged from the hospital on January 31 after which she stayed at a resort, about 35 km from Bengaluru.
On Monday morning, she left the resort, accompanied by Dinakaran, also the general secretary of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, in a convoy of around 200 vehicles as her supporters raised slogans hailing her.
Before leaving, Sasikala offered floral tributes to a portrait of Jayalalithaa.
Clad in a green colour saree, the favourite hue of Jayalalithaa, she travelled in a car that sported the AIADMK flag over the bonnet, disregarding the warning by the ruling party in Tamil Nadu against its use by non-members.
On AIADMK ministers filing police complaint against her use of the ruling party flag on her car, she said "I think it shows their apprehension."
Responding to Jayalalithaa's memorial in Chennai being closed for maintenance, she said "the people of Tamil Nadu know very well what all this means."
Asked about supporters' demand to "wrest control of the AIADMK," she said "I will meet you all soon. Will speak in detail then."
At several locations along the road to Hosur, welcome arches were erected to greet Sasikala.
A festive atmosphere gripped the towns in the border district of Krishnagiri in western Tamil Nadu with banners, flex boards, posters and hoardings welcoming Sasikala.
Women holding on their head 'Kalasha' or pitchers decorated with flowers lined up on the roadsides to receive the leader.
Sasikala along with her sister-in-law J Ilavarasi and Jayalalithaa's disowned foster son V N Sudhakaran were sentenced to four years imprisonment by the Supreme Court in the disproportionate assets case.
The assets case was originally filed against Jayalalithaa and the three others for amassment of Rs 66.65 crore assets disproportionate to their known sources of income between 1991 and 1996. The case was later transferred to Bengaluru.
While the trial court in Bengaluru convicted all the four, the Karnataka high court later acquitted them.
The Supreme Court, allowing appeals challenging their acquittals, confirmed and restored the trial court order convicting Sasikala, Illavarasi and Sudhakaran, while abating appeals related to Jayalalithaa in view of her death in December, 2016.
Post Jalalithaa's death, Sasikala was elected the AIADMK's interim general secretary and as its legislature party leader in February 2017, paving the way for her elevation as chief minister.
However, with the apex court restoring her conviction in the assets case, she chose her then loyalist K Palaniswami to be the chief minister before proceeding to Bengaluru for serving the sentence.
The AIADMK suffered a split with O Panneerselvam, now deputy chief minister, and Palaniswami heading two factions, but they later merged the groups and the general council of the combined party expelled Sasikala in September, 2017 along with Dinakaran and others.