Chennai: With the passing away of J Jayalalithaa earlier this week the RK Nagar constituency from where she had won her membership to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly now lies vacant. Sources indicate that Jayalalithaa’s companion Sasikala is planning to contest from RK Nagar soon.

Speculation was rife from the time Jayalalithaa passed away about political maneuvering within the AIADMK party with one news channel reporting an alleged midnight coup in Apollo hospital by Sasikala, where she reportedly coerced a sizable chunk of the party cadre to back her.

Quick intervention by the BJP’s leadership is supposed to have prevented this and let the status quo continue while accommodating Sasikala in the general secretary’s role.

On Friday morning the Tamil Nadu chief minister Panneer Selvam visited the Poes Garden residence of late Jayalalithaa to meet with Sasikala. He is reported to have spent more than two hours there discussing on issues relating to the RK Nagar Bypoll, AIADMK leadership and BJP’s involvement in their party affairs.

The developments seem to throw weight on Sasikala’s reported intentions of playing a much larger role in the affairs of the Party than that of a nominal general secretary. It would therefore not be surprising if AIADMK decided to field Sasikala for the RK Nagar Bypoll. An announcement in this regard can soon be expected, political experts say.