Sasikala gone, but MLAs still at Golden Bay: A few reasons why they haven't defected to OPS camp

VK Sasikala is behind bars. With her removed from the scene, it was expected that most of the MLAs, strangely still holed up in the now infamous Golden Bay resort, would make a seamless switch over to the OPS camp. But that, even more strangely, has not happened. [caption id=“attachment_3285982” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sun, sand and surf at the Golden Bay resort. How can the MLAs resist? Image courtesy: TripAdvisor[/caption] Why? As ever in Tamil Nadu, with no real information forthcoming from official channels, much has to be speculated, or as we journos mostly say, let our “sources” speak. So, here are a few speculative reasons: Duress: There are over 100 AIADMK MLAs still inside the sprawling environs of the Golden Bay resort. Popular narrative has it that they are being held against their will by “bouncers” hired by the Mannargudi team. The MLAs have been kept on a leash using force and threat, which the Mannargudi team is known to have used elsewhere on other occasions as well. Money Of course, another school of thought has it that these MLAs are not exactly babes in the woods and would know how to handle physical threats. So the only thing that can be holding them together at the resort is the promise of moolah, which again, the Mannargudi team has no dearth of. There isn’t anything they can’t buy off. And MLAs, even hundreds of them, are still just small change. Sleaze A reclusive resort. A sizzling seashore. Plenty of food and drink. A Valentine’s Day in between. What do these things add up to? Plenty of sleaze between the sheets, of course. And many of these MLAs are known to live it up. What if they had been filmed in some of their acts and that’s what is being used to keep them under check? Sounds far-fetched? Filmi? Well, nothing in Tamil Nadu — and we mean nothing — is ever filmi! Everything can be real. This is Tinsel Nadu! Out of favour OPS Having speculated outside the political box, we may as well think inside of it now. Why can’t it just be that most of the MLAs are not actually in favour of O Panneerselvam as chief minister? They could also be seeing him as a party-pooper or party-breaker, and don’t want to join his camp. The resort is first-class We certainly cannot rule this out: The MLAs just love the Golden Bay resort, its ambience, the service, and more than anything else, the fact that someone else is footing the bill for all the fun and frolic! If this is the case, we can’t really blame them, can we?