Chennai: Slowly but surely, Sasikala is giving out firm indications that she is emerging out of Jayalalithaa’s shadows and taking charge of the situation.

On Tuesday, AIADMK party leaders released the letters she wrote to the President and the Prime Minister for visiting Chennai and offering condolences to her on the death of Amma, former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, with whom she had a longtime friendship. Sasikala was a close aide of Jayalalithaa and is still staying at the latter’s Poes Garden residence. It is from this address that she wrote letters to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

The letters were made public by the AIADMK on Tuesday.

In her letter to President Pranab Mukherjee she said it was kind of him to have visited Chennai and paid his condolences to her personally on the demise of Jayalalithaa. In the letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said: “Many thanks for your visit and expression of sympathy to the people of Tamil Nadu and to me personally, in our moment of inexplicable grief and sorrow.”

“Your words of sympathy to me, in my hour of personal grief overwhelmed me in every way,” Sasikala told Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

At a time when party leaders and cadres were pleading with Sasikala to take over the party, her gesture is being seen as the first indication that she was not averse to lead the party, political observers say.