OPS supporters celebrate SC verdict

CHENNAI: When special judge John Michael D’Cunha convicted Jayalalithaa, V K Sasikala and two others in September 2014, O Panneerselvam and his supporters grew beards, performed special poojas, tonsured their heads and even called Cunha names.

Times having changed, his supporters on Tuesday set off fireworks to celebrate the SC verdict upholding Cunha’s order as Sasikala is now their sworn enemy. They ignored that what they celebrated was also Jayalalithaa’s fall from grace; just that the court abated the case against Jayalalithaa as she is no more.

People at OPS’ house burst into celebration the moment the SC pronounced the verdict. They danced and distributed sweets saying justice had triumphed. For them what mattered was that Sasikala was no longer in the fray for the chief minister post. Playing a parody of a popular Tamil movie song, OPS’ supporters raised slogans like “Sasikala, is this enough for you, or do you want more,” and “now, it is straight four years in jail for you without any bail”. They interspaced their attacks on Sasikala with slogans hailing Jayalalithaa, the main accused in the disproportionate assets case. Some shared jokes on Sasikala on WhatsApp. There were also demands for immediate confiscation of all the assets that Sasikala and her family members had amassed. When reporters asked how they could celebrate the verdict as it went against their deceased leader Jayalalithaa also, they said, Sasikala and her family were responsible for Jayalalithaa’s fall.

M Baskar, a party worker from Salem, said, “It was at Sasikala’s insistence that V N Sudhakaran was accepted by Amma as foster son. All the problems started with his gala marriage celebration.”

Yet another reason for the celebration at OPS’ house was entry of Mettur MLA Semmalai and Mettupalayam MLA O K Chinnaraj into his camp.

OPS, on his part, refrained from reacting to the SC order. A party worker said, “How will he react? You have to bear in mind that if he celebrates, it will be construed as enjoying Amma’s conviction”.