AMMK cadres prepare to greet Sasikala with gusto

AMMK cadres prepare to greet Sasikala with gusto

Hotels In Hosur Full, Banners Line Route To City From B’luru

V Mayilvaganan & V Senthil Kumaran TNN

Krishnagiri:  08.02.2021 

The Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border in Krishnagiri district witnessed unusually frenetic activity on Sunday as AMMK cadres geared up to give a rousing reception to V K Sasikala, who is returning from Bengaluru to Chennai on Monday.

Scores of cars with AMMK men whizzed past the border, heading towards Devanahalli near Bengaluru where Sasikala, a close aide of J Jayalalithaa is staying since her release. The cadres plan to greet Sasikala from the farmhouse and enter Tamil Nadu in a massive convoy. At the border town of Hosur, dozens of AMMK cadres from across the state have checked into hotels to greet her on Monday.

Meanwhile, many more cadres in towns and villages along the route from Krishnagiri to Chennai were busy sticking posters and erecting banners welcoming Sasikala. There were posters by AIADMK functionaries too welcoming Sasikala in some places.

“We have planned to give a grand welcome to Chinnamma in three places starting from Atebelle, the entry point of Tamil Nadu from Karnataka and in Hosur city,” AMMK Hosur secretary Maare Gowdu said. The AMMK has drawn out a plan to greet Sasikala at 56 places starting from Atebelle to Guindy covering Krishnagiri, Vellore, Tirupattur, Ranipet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts before she ends the road trip in Chennai.

The police, however, are yet to grant permission for the gatherings. In Chennai, Sasikala’s family members were giving final touches to the house on Habibullah Road in T Nagar, where she is most likely to stay.

AMMK founder and Sasikala’s nephew T T V Dhinakaran said cadres from all over the state would assemble voluntarily all along her return route to welcome her. “What is going to happen is not something we are organising. Lakhs of cadres are expected to congregate on their own to greet her,” he said in Bengaluru.

Dhinakaran said he had instructed the cadres not to cause any hindrance to the public on Monday. He, however, said he suspected a conspiracy to defame AMMK cadres by creating a law and order problem. He said Sasikala had initially planned to visit M G Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa memorials after her return. Now that the memorial was closed, her schedule would be decided once she reaches Chennai. Dhinakaran said the action of AIADMK ministers to lodge a complaint with DGP was saddening. “I don’t understand why they are so scared when the power is with them,” he said. AMMK men were also busy trending the hashtags ‘TN welcomes Rajamata’ and ‘TN welcomes Chinnamma’ on Sunday.

Krishnagiri district secretary of Tamil Nadu Thiyaga Thalaivi Chinnamma Peravai Sakthivel petitioned the district SP, seeking his permission to strew flowers from a helicopter.

Meanwhile, the reactions in the AIADMK camp to the preparations was mixed as many appeared to go into wait and watch mode. State local administration minister S P Velumani declined to respond to reporters’ question about Sasikala. In Vellore, where chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami is slated to visit this week, police asked AMMK cadres to remove posters and banners they had put up welcoming Sasikala.