Reunited: Jaya and Sasikala make temple appearance

Chennai: If the local media is to be believed, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her recently estranged associate Sasikala are back together indeed. The two are reportedly as close and pious as ever, notwithstanding the rumours of conspiracy and subterfuge by Sasikala’s clan, and Jayalalithaa’s angry public statements speaking of betrayal. They two reportedly performed a puja at a roadside ganesha temple in the city early morning on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_268883” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“From the courtroom to the temple: Reuters”]  [/caption]While the reports couldn’t be verified, the decorations around the temple in Kotturpuram in the heart of the city, is a certain giveaway that it was visited by a VIP. Apparently it was a low key affair with the temple priests being informed about her schedule only the previous day. < em>Hindustan Times quoted the priest confirming the duo’s visit. Reportedly, the modest temple is one of the places that Jayalalithaa visited every time she came to power. On road trips and election campaigns, she usually bows before some of the roadside temples in the state. After she unilaterally severed ties with Sasikala in December last year, Jayalalithaa recently announced that all the disciplinary action against her close friend has been withdrawn, paving the way for her return. Reports also indicated that Sasikala made it back to Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence on 2 April. Meanwhile Deccan Chronicle reported that Sasikala had visited another temple in in the city before she went back to Poes Garden. Apparently she visited the same temple, in T-Nagar within the city, again on 5 April. Meanwhile, as of now there is no respite on the cases slapped on the central coterie of Sasikala’s relatives. These include lawsuits againt her husband Natarajan, brother Divakaran, a key aide Ravanan and a liquor baron “Midas” Mohan; who were all expelled from the party along with her.