A war of words has broken out between the ruling AIADMK and the Opposition DMK over the status of the health of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa who is undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital, Chennai since September 22.
M Karunanidhi, the 93-year-old president of the DMK alleged on Tuesday that the State Government was lacking direction because of the hospitalisation of the Chief Minister. In a statement released to the media, Karunanidhi, who is being seen as a Chief Minister-in-waiting, urged the Centre and the Governor of Tamil Nadu to take appropriate action to address the uncertainty staring at the State.
“Till the CM recovers and resumes her duties an arrangement should be made to fulfil the essential needs of the people of the State,” Karunanidhi demanded. He also charged that there was a passive situation in the State because of the reluctance of the Ministers and bureaucrats to take any action without consulting the CM.
The AIADMK retorted by the evening charging that the DMK was behind all rumours and speculations on the CM’s health being spread through social media. Ponnaiyan, former Finance Minister and senior spokesman of the party told journalists at Chennai that the two youths arrested on Sunday for posting false news in social media were activists of the DMK. “It is an open secret that the DMK is behind all these rumours. At one hand the DMK leaders come to the hospital to enquire about the health of the Chief Minister while they spread all kinds of rumours. This is not fair,” said a visibly upset Ponnaiyan.
He also rejected the demand of the DMK treasurer MK Stalin that the Governor appoint care taker of the Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister because of the indisposition of Jayalalithaa. “There is no precedence of that kind and there is no need of such an action,” said Ponnaiyan.
In an interesting development, M Krishnaswamy, former president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, who visited Apollo Hospital on Tuesday said that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was recovering fast and he asked the people not to believe in false propaganda. Speaking to journalists outside the hospital, Krishnaswamy, a close confidante of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said he went to the room and met Jayalalithaa. “Though she was able to respond, the doctors had asked her to restraint from speaking,” said Krishnaswamy. The former MP said that in 2007 he had been admitted to the hospital following an assault on him. “Jayalalithaa was the first leader to call on me that day. She rushed to the hospital within 30 minutes to enquire about my health,” said an emotionally charged Krishnaswamy.
Krishnaswamy asking the people of Tamil Nadu not to believe in false propaganda about the CM’s health and TNCC president S Thirunavakkarassar rejecting the DMK’s demand for alternate arrangement in Government is seen as the Congress-DMK ties touching a new low.
Tamilissai Sounderarajan, Tamil Nadu BJP president said on Tuesday that Amit Shah, BJP national chief and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitly are coming to Chennai on Wednesday to call on Jayalalithaa. It is expected that N Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh is also flying down to Chennai to call on the Chief Minister. He has already ordered the Thirupati Devasthanam Trust, the body administering the famous Thiruppathi Balaji Shrine to courier the Prasadams from the temple through a special representative to Jayalalithaa.