Rousing welcome for Jayalalithaa

Chennai/Bengaluru: AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa on Saturday, who walked out of a Bengaluru prison following Supreme Court granting her bail in assets case, arrived in Chennai to a grand homecoming with hundreds of supporters turning up to welcome her despite heavy downpour. 

Party cadres and corporation councillors lined up the roads from Chennai airport till her residence at Poes Garden for 15 km and shouted slogans hailing her .

Jayalalithaa’s convoy, which started at 5.10 pm from the airport, took more than an hour to reach her residence, a journey she otherwise covers in 20 minutes.

All along the way a smiling Jayalalithaa waved back to her celebrating supporters. The convoy also stopped for a few seconds at the Kotturpuram Vinayakar temple en route to her residence as she offered prayers from the car.   

As Ms Jayalalithaa came out of the jail in her majestic Prado, the atmosphere was charged with her followers shouting Puraitchi selvi vazhga (long live Amma) and showering her vehicle with flowers, expressing their love for the leader.

The 22-day stay in jail ended for the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister when the court’s release order reached the central prison in Parappana Agrahara around 2.45 pm. Ms Jayalalithaa, however, had informed the jail officials that she would not step out till 3 pm, as it was yamagandakalam.

Exactly at 3.10 pm, she completed the formalities and walked free and got into her Prado. Before that, she thanked the jail officials for taking good care of her and bid them goodbye.

As she came out of the prison, her ‘Z plus’ category security was back. As her vehicle moved forward, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam threw himself face down on the  ground with folded arms, while other AIADMK ministers, MLAs and MPs, bowed.

Ms Jayalalithaa, who seemed calm and composed, did not stop the vehicle, but rolled down the window to wave at Mr Panneerselvam.

She was clad in the same saree that she wore when she entered the jail on September 27. She had ensured that the sunroof was kept open so that there is enough light inside the cabin to let her followers see her from outside the car.

Her motorcade reached the HAL airport, a good 16-km away, in 50 minutes flat as the roads had been cleared by the traffic police.

The special chartered flight, which brought the AIADMK supremo to the city on September 27 and was stationed at the airport since then, took off at 4.15 pm with Ms Jayalalithaa,  Ms Sasikala, Ms Ilavarasi and Mr Sudhakaran. Earlier in the day, eight people furnished a bond of Rs 1 crore each to fulfill the bail conditions.