AIADMK General Secretary V.K. Sasikala began her journey to Bengaluru this morning by road where she will surrender at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail as ordered by the Supreme Court yesterday.

She is expected to reach there by evening to be lodged as a common prisoner.

The apex court on Tuesday while holding Sasikala and two others guilty of amassing disproportionate assets had directed her to surrender to the trial court forthwith to undergo her remaining sentence.

The Supreme Court today rejected her plea seeking more time to surrender. A bench headed by Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose declined the plea as senior counsel K.T.S. Tulsi mentioned it before the court.

Sasikala, reports said, was accompanied by Jaya’s aunt Ilavarasi who was also convicted and sent to jail yesterday. However, the whereabouts of Sudhakaran, the disowned foster son of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, who was also jailed, is not known. As Sasikala walked towards her car, she greeted her supporters with folded hands and the supporters showered flowers at her feet.

Sasikala thumps memorial

Sasikala, in a red and maroon saree, left her Poes Garden residence in the morning and before heading to Bengaluru, she visited the MGR Memorial House. She later visited Jayalalithaa memorial at Marina Beach and thumped “Amma Memorial”, a gesture denoting that she swears an oath on Jayalalithaa’s name. “I will overcome hurdle(s), treachery and (the) plotting (against me),” she mumbled.

Her lawyer said that she will surrender today before end of the day and will request for two weeks time on health grounds.

The Bengaluru Police have made elaborate security arrangements around the jail and senior officials along with Karnataka State Reserve Police and City Armed Reserve personnel have been deployed. Policemen were also deployed in large numbers at Hosur check post, near Tamil Nadu border, to prevent the flow Sasikala supporters into the city.

MAKES BIG MOVES

Meanwhile, Sasikala made big moves today to secure her hold over Tamil Nadu’s ruling party before starting the jail term. Two of her nephews expelled by Jayalalithaa are back in the AIADMK. Among them is former lawmaker T.T.V. Dinakaran, who was prominent in the group that accompanied Sasikala to her meeting with the Governor last week to stake claim to power. The other man is Venkatesh.

The oldest son of Sasikala’s sister, Dinakaran will take over as the party’s deputy general secretary, which makes him his aunt’s number two. Justifying his return two months after Jayalalithaa’s death, Sasikala said he had “apologized in writing and in person”.

Dinakaran was expelled by Jayalalithaa in 2011 along with other members of Sasikala’s extended family often referred to disparagingly as the “Mannargudi mafia”, named after their hometown. He remained an outcaste even after his aunt returned to Jayalalithaa’s home.