VK Sasikala thanks President Mukherjee, PM, Rahul Gandhi through letters
Chennai: V.K Sasikala on Tuesday thanked President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for their “noble gesture” of flying down to the city and paying their last respects to the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
In separate letters, the close aide of late Jayalalithaa said their visits on December 6, the day Jayalalithaa was cremated, “overwhelmed her” and “brought great consolation” to her and the people of Tamil Nadu. Ms Sasikala’s letters to the leaders assume significance in the wake of campaign by AIADMK leaders for her taking over the party and the government as Chief Minister.
“I was given to understand that Your Excellency's journey to Chennai was a little arduous because of some flight problem; but you were undeterred. Your visit has brought great consolation to me at a personal level and to the millions of Tamil masses and the people in the rest of the country,” Ms Sasikala said in the letter, which had the address of Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence.
Mr Mukherjee's special flight returned to New Delhi immediately after take-off due to a technical glitch. However, the President waited till the glitch was solved and travelled to Chennai and paid respects to Jayalalithaa.
The letters, which were dated December 18, 2016, were released to the media on Tuesday morning through the AIADMK's official media wing. Terming Mr Modi's flying down to Chennai as “noble gesture”, Ms Sasikala said his visit “brought great consolation to me in my moment of personal sorrow and to the millions of masses of Tamil Nadu”.
“It was extremely kind of you to have come down to Chennai for sharing with me a few moments on the tragic occasion. Many thanks for your visit and expression of sympathy to the people of Tamil Nadu and to me personally, in our moment of inexplicable grief and sorrow,” she said in the letter.
In her letter to Mr Gandhi, who had visited Jayalalithaa in October when she was admitted to Apollo Hospitals, Ms Sasikala said it was “extremely kind” of him to have flown down here to pay his last respects to Jayalalithaa. “Your words of sympathy to me, in my hour of personal grief, overwhelmed me in every way,” she told Mr Gandhi, who was also present for the last rites ceremony.
