The Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed dramatic scenes as AIADMK member Sasikala Pushpa alleged that there was a threat to her life. She also alleged that she was under pressure to quit from the Upper House. Minutes after her assertion, the AIADMK announced that she was expelled from the party for ‘bringing a bad name’ to the party by slapping DMK MP Tiruchi Siva.

Kurien asked her to write to the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President, Hamid Ansari, about the alleged threat to her life and assured her the House’s support.

Minutes later, AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced that Sasikala Pushpa had been stripped of her primary membership of the AIADMK for ‘bringing a bad name’ to the party.

About L Sasikala Pushpa

She was named the Mayoral candidate for Thoothukudi Corporation in October 2011. After she became Mayor, Sasikala opened ‘Puratchi Thalaivi Amma Coaching Centres’ in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli for civil services and other competitive examinations to help rural students from economically weaker sections. She was soon made secretary of AIADMK’s women’s wing, much to the shock of long-term loyalists of Ms. Jayalalithaa. In 2014, she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and was later made the party’s whip in the Upper House.