Chennai: Thirty-year-old Saroja of Otteri was seen telling a small kid to come and stand in the shade. Immediately, the child stepped under the huge ‘Amma’ banner that read “You have done it!” Saroja joined her friends for a dance near MGR statue at the Spencer Plaza junction. She danced not to the tunes of MGR songs, which the loudspeakers were blaring non-stop, but to the fervent beats of a Thappattam group. “I have been waiting for this day like forever,” Saroja declared. “217 days to be precise,” corrected Kali alias Suganthi, a party functionary from Purasawalkam and her friend.
She went to Bengaluru when the trial court pronounced its verdict in the assets case against Ms Jayalalithaa. “Today, she has emerged victorious after winning the court battle,” Kali said. “This day is the happiest day for me”.The two were not alone. Thousands of party cadres, some of whom from Thanjavur and Tiruvanamalai, had lined up the entire Anna Salai stretch since morning. For party volunteers, the mood was upbeat, notwithstanding the sweltering heat.
Among the onlookers were several office-goers. Muthukumaran, a private company employee and whose office was situated nearby, said he and his colleagues were present out of curiosity. “It is so unique to see cadres expressing their love and affection for their leader, who had not been seen in public for seven months” he said. At last, around 2.30 pm, when the convoy arrived, the waiting crowd raised a chorus of praise for Ms Jayalalithaa. Cadres rushed towards the convoy putting security personnel on tenterhooks.
