In a statement which could have far reaching repercussions in Tamil Nadu politics, Minister for Forests and Environment Dindigul C Sreenivasan created a sensation on Saturday by claiming that party leaders, who were afraid of Sasikala, lied about Jayalalithaa’s health so that people believe that Amma was recuperating in Apollo Hospital in Chennai last year. He sought people’s apology for the lie.
Addressing a public meeting at Madurai, 500 km south of Chennai late on Friday, Sreenivasan said, “We had told lies that she (Jayalalithaa) had idlis and people met her. The truth is that nobody saw her.”
“I seek a huge pardon from you. Please forgive me. We told lies that Amma (Jayalalithaa) was having sambar, chatni, tea, etc so that you will believe she was improving. In fact nobody saw Amma eating idli or drinking tea or chatting… all are lies,” said Srinivasan, once close to the Sasikala family.
“We were afraid of Sasikala at that time and lied about Jayalalithaa’s health condition... It is very common that sisters who fight inside the house will appear to be friendly outside. We did not want the secret of the party to get leaked... That is why we lied,” he said.
This statement has the potential to put the Sasikala clan in the dock over the death of the late Chief Minister as they were the ones who were looking after Jayalalithaa.
Reacting to the Minister’s comments, sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran told reporters at Kodagu in Karnataka that they have footage of Jayalalithaa getting treatment in hospital and would hand it over at “an appropriate time”.
What is of importance is that Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital on September 22, 2016. The medical bulletin issued by the hospital on September 23, 2016 stated that the “Chief Minister was suffering from high fever and dehydration. Her condition was stable and she was under observation.”
Jayalalithaa continued to be in the hospital and breathed her last on December 5, 2016. Since then there were many news circulating in Tamil Nadu about the health status of the then Chief Minister. Nobody including the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Union Cabinet Ministers, BJP chief Amit Shah and a host of other top political leaders and dignitaries who called on the hospital were allowed to meet the ailing Chief Minister even once.
Many public interest litigations and petitions were filed in the Madras High Court pleading for a court directive to the State Government for a white paper on the health condition of Jayalalithaa. But the Ministers and the AIADMK spokespersons who addressed the media regularly had claimed that the then Chief Minister was cheerful but required some rest. CR Saraswathi, the lead spokesperson of the party was literally camping at the gates of the corporate hospital from morning to midnight giving voice bites to television channels claiming that her Amma was fine and happy.
Apollo Hospital Chairman Dr Pratap C Reddy, while addressing the media in October 2016 had claimed that Jayalalithaa was in the best of health and it was for her to decide when to go home. The Apollo Hospital authorities had claimed in a specially convened Press meet that Jayalalithaa was chatting with doctors, nurses and other medical staff who were looking after her and had even joked with them. One of the statements issued by the authorities had said that Jayalalithaa had convened a conference of Ministers and officials in her hospital room to discuss the agenda for a meeting on Cauvery River water issue which was to be held in New Delhi. “The Chief Minister dictated the draft of the speech to be delivered by the PWD Minister in the conference,” the statement had said. The revelations by Minister Srinivasan demolishes all such statements. There is every possibility for a demand by the people of the State for a CBI probe, said a senior commentator.
Though O Panneerselvam, who succeeded her as Chief Minister had ordered a probe into the demise of Jayalalithaa, he was ousted from office and Edappadi K Palaniswami was anointed as Chief Minister on February 15, 2017 by the Sasikala clan. The original plan was to sworn in Sasikala as Chief Minister and hectic arrangements were being made for her coronation when the Supreme Court upheld the Bangalore Special Court verdict sentencing Sasikala, her sister-in-law Elavarasi and nephew Sudhakaran for four years imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case filed against them and Jayalalithaa by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
The AIADMK was split into two factions owning allegiance to Paneerselvam and Sasikala respectively. The decision of Sasikala to anoint her nephew TTV Dinakaran as Chief Minister and to make him contest from RK Nagar constituency which had been represented by Jayalalithaa strained the relations between Palaniswamy and the Sasikala family. The by-election from RK Nagar scheduled for April 2017 was rescinded by the Election Commission of India following reports of rampant corruption and money distribution in the constituency to influence the voters.
last month saw the OPS and Palaniswamy factions coming together ousting the Sasikala clan from the leadership of the party. Chief Minister Palaniswamy had ordered a probe by a retired High Court Judge into the causes leading to the hospitalisation and subsequent demise of Jayalalithaa, a demand put forward by Panneerselvam and his faction leaders.
The general council of the AIADMK which met at Chennai on September 12 had abolished the post of general secretary easing out Sasikala from the post. The meeting unanimously declared late Jayalalithaa as the eternal general secretary of the party which literally means that the post has been done away with once and for ever.
Dinakaran, who got upset over the general council decisions had declared in September that the Palaniswamy Government would be toppled within one week. Though the deadline was over on Friday nothing worthwhile has happened other than Vasanthi, one of the Dinalaran loyalists, crossing over to Palaniswami camp. There are reports that more MPs in the Dinakaran-Sasikala camp are getting ready to jump fence and migrate to the Palaniswamy camp in search of greener pastures.