Chennai: Out of jail on a five-day parole, beleaguered AIADMK leader V. K. Sasikala on Saturday visited her husband M Natarajan at the Gleneagles Global Health City, where he is recovering after undergoing liver and kidney transplants. Arriving there shortly after noontime, she was with him for about two hours and also verified his condition from senior doctors, hospital sources said.
Sasikala, who was removed from the AIADMK last month after the factions led by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and now Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam united, reached Chennai late Friday night after being released on the parole from the Parapana Agrahara central jail in Bengaluru, where she had been lodged in February after the Supreme Court upheld her conviction by a special court in a disproportionate assets case. On the way to the hospital from the T'Nagar house of sister-in-law Ilavarasi's daughter Krishnapriya, where she will stay during the parole under police escort, Sasikala stopped her car briefly in front of a Ganesha temple at Kotturpuram to pray from inside the vehicle-she had visited the temple a few times with Jayalalithaa.
In stark contrast to her public appearances post-Jayalalithaa and prior to the imprisonment, when party loyalists would crowd around her hailing her as 'Chinnamma', the present outing to the hospital was fairly low-key. Of course, there were a few welcome banners at Krishnapriya's place and some loyalists who turned up despite the police discouraging crowds. The police ensured that none, barring close family, gained entry into the hospital along with Sasikala. Among those who could not make it into the hospital but was immensely happy just seeing and speaking briefly to Chinnamma was her most robust supporter Nanjil Sampath. He told reporters that he advised her to recite 'Sundara Kandam' from Ramayana and that would make her feel better. "It will bring her relief", said Sampath, adding that efforts were on to get the parole extended so that Chinnamma could spend some time with her husband during such a critical time. "He (Natarajan) should remain in the intensive care unit for at least one week", he argued.
Asked about some party leaders meeting Sasikala, despite the parole conditions banning such meetings, Sampath quipped: "She should not meet anyone, but others can meet her". The parole conditions allow Sasikala to only visit the hospital to see her husband during daytime with a woman DSP escort (from Bengaluru) and to stay at Krishnapriya's house-that's the address she gave in her parole application and that's where she had stayed for three months when Jayalalithaa banished her in December 2011.
Natarajan remains critical post-surgery:
Health of M. Natarajan, husband of suspended AIADMK general secretary V. K. Sasikala remains critical due to combined liver and kidney transplantation surgeries, said hospital authorities at Gleneagles Global Health City on Saturday.In a statement issued by Dr K Ilankumaran, Director, Institute of Liver Disease and Transplantation, said that Natarajan remains on ventilator support through tracheostomy performed on Friday.
Dr K. Ilankumaran said, “Considering his age associated co-morbidities, patient's condition was stable during the surgery and he is recovering well in the liver intensive care unit. As in combined liver and kidney transplant surgeries, his condition will be critical for the next few days. He is under close observation and monitoring.”
