Edappadi Palanisamy likely to meet VK Sasikala today, seek her blessings

Bengaluru: Newly-appointed Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K. Palanisamy of the AIADMK party is likely to meet his mentor V.K. Sasikala in the Bengaluru Central prison at Parapanna Agrahara on Friday morning during visiting hours, sources told this newspaper.

“Though there is no official confirmation yet about his visit to Bengaluru, Mr Palanisami in all likelihood will come here to meet Sasikala and seek her blessings. He may come alone or with a handful of some other supporters or his cabinet members,” the officer added.

The TN CM could fly in on a chartered flight to the HAL airport from where he will drive down to the Central prison, located an hour and a half from the city centre. “He will meet her in the designated hours during which the prisoners are allowed to meet  family and friends inside the premises,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, the ruling AIADMK said all the party MLAs were working as a family and the focus will be on delivering good governance to the people of Tamil Nadu under the leadership of Edappadi K. Palanisami.

“We will focus on delivering good governance to the people of Tamil Nadu,” a minister told the reporters.

No cellphone or TV given: Prison

V.K. Sasikala — prisoner number 9243 — does not have to undergo any skilled training or involve herself with vocational work in the Central prison at Parapanna Agrahara because she has been sentenced to Simple Imprisonment by the Supreme Court, an official source told this newspaper.

Amid some speculation, that Sasikala had managed to wangle a television into her room and upgrade her cell to a Class A cell and get a cot, all of which has been strenuously denied by prison authorities, the source said that while “vocational and skill-based work is mandatory for convicts, who been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment by the court,  prison officials cannot force a convict serving simple imprisonment to do any kind of work.

It is up to her to keep herself occupied. The prison library is available for the convicts and she can make use of the facility.” Saskilaka’s relative Ilavarasi, meanwhile,  has been provided with a cot on medical grounds. "She is a hypertension patient and has been advised to sleep on a cot by the prison doctors. So far no such requisition has been made for Sasiskala or her doctor," the source said. Sasiskala chose to eat breakfast of Pongal, and asked for hot water to bathe in. Her first visitors were her lawyers.