BENGALURU: The most interested spectator of the drama in the Tamil Nadu Assembly was miles away from Chennai but kept track of the progress minute by minute.
Prisoner no. 9234 V K Sasikala, the centre of the storm currently gripping Tamil Nadu, watched the proceedings of the state Assembly on a TV set in the neighbouring cell of the Parappana Agrahara Central jail in Karnataka on Saturday.
She and her fellow jailmate and sister-in-law Ilavarasi do not have TV in their own cells, for they are not eligible for one, as per prison rules. This morning Sasikala asked for a TV set so she could watch the interesting events back in her home state, but the jail officials refused.
Instead, they arranged for her to watch the trust vote in the neighbouring cell.
Jail officials said Sasikala surfed several Tamil news channels to know various angles to the story. She watched the entire Assembly proceedings for more than 40 minutes and sat on while the channel switched to a Tamil serial.
With the special court striking down her request for additional facilities in jail, Parappana Agrahara officials have not considered any of Sasikala’s demands, either for home-made food or a TV. It has been all of four days since Sasikala checked into her Parappana Agrahara lodgings.