Chennai: Well, she goes to jail. Probably today itself. The Karnataka DGP will get in touch with his Tamil Nadu counterpart because Sasikala has to surrender immediately before the trial court in Bangalore.
All her hopes of being the CM has been dashed since there is no easy legal recourse for her to wriggle out of the 10-year ban on contesting polls or holding any Constitutional position.
She can file a curative petition or a review petition but until a larger bench decides, the current verdict of the 2-judge bench prevails. There is no avenue for a stay.
Of course, she is not going to yield the political ground without a battle. "Whenever Amma was in crisis, I also suffered. This time, I will take it upon me. Justice will prevail," the AIADMK official Twitter handle quoted Sasikala as saying, her first reaction to the verdict.
Team Sasikala’s Plan B is to keep the flock of her 119 MLAs together and foist a confidante as the next CM nominee. Word from Golden Bay Resorts in Kovathoor on the outskirts of Chennai where all these MLAs are is that Edapadi Palaniswamy or K Sengottian could be her choice.
However, that would mean a split in the party, and it’s a no-brainer that the verdict will cut away a massive chunk of the 119 MLAs and force them into the O Panneerselvam camp because everyone wants to avoid a split in the party. The new legislative assembly is only a few months old and the MLAs would like to serve out their five-year term.
Will their loyalty to Chinnamma Sasikala be enough for them to look away and fight it out for their now-convicted leader? Highly unlikely.
Keep your eyes on the CNN-News18 visuals of Panneerselvam’s residence in Chennai. By evening we will update how many MLAs walk into the new hotspot.
Comments
0 comment