By
Ramanathan S.

As the dust around the death of Jayalalithaa settles, the focus is now slowly shifting to the political events of December 5 and 6, and how her closest aide, Sasikala, acted during Jayalalithaa’s illness and in the immediate aftermath of her death.

Some questions in the air: What was the need to hold a swearing-in ceremony in the middle of the night?

And why is Sasikala back with her family, in the open?

The death of the Chief Minister was a shocking development, even though she was admitted to the hospital for nearly 75 days. The wave of sadness and disbelief that it triggered, among her followers and detractors, is testimony to that. But has the secrecy which shrouded Jayalalithaa’s illness acted as a cloak for people with vested interests?

Has it enabled the Sasikala family to bulldoze their way through the party and the Tamil Nadu government?

What has raised immediate suspicion was perhaps the quickest transition of power India has ever seen following the death of a sitting Chief Minister. Jayalalithaa, according to the official version, died at 11.30 pm on Monday. This was announced publicly a little after midnight. By 1.30 am, O Panneerselvam had taken oath as the new CM of TN at Raj Bhavan.

One of India’s most popular, powerful and respected politicians had just died. Millions in Tamil Nadu were shocked. What was the tearing hurry to get OPS elected as the chairman of the legislature party and for him to be sworn in as the CM?

TNM has been closely following the political events of the two days, even before her death was announced, and it emerged that Dhivaharan, Sasikala’s youngest brother, a person based out of Mannargudi, was meeting MLAs, seeking their support and holding them together.

It is true that the political crisis triggered by Jayalalithaa’s death needed to be contained. However, it’s not unreasonable to ask if the events were more about saving the AIADMK and the government, or the Sasikala family’s hold on the party and the government machinery.

Sasikala’s estranged husband, M Natarajan, whom Jayalalithaa had despised, is back. Posters announcing the ‘return of the golden man who will save Tamil Nadu’ were seen in parts of Chennai.

And that brings us to the next question: Why is the Sasikala family back, all out in the open?

In early 2012, Sasikala was shunted out of Poes Garden by Jayalalithaa for keeping in touch with her family members. Jayalalithaa believed that they were working against her.

But in March, exactly 100 days after the event, she was back in Amma’s house. Sasikala wrote an emotional, moving personal letter which was aired on Jaya TV, and then Jayalalithaa released a statement saying that she had accepted Sasikala’s explanation and had welcomed her back into her house.

Here is what Sasikala promised to Jayalalithaa then –

“Only after coming out of Poes Garden, I became aware of the machinations of my relatives who have misused my proximity and brought disrepute to akka and the party. I have no role whatsoever in that. Hereafter, any relative, whosoever it might be, who had conspired against akka, will remain a persona non-grata for me as well.”

All the ‘persona non-grata’, are back and were all around Jayalalithaa during her final day.
M Natarajan, Sasikala’s husband, had been kept away from the party and the government for a long time, although he had been known to peddle some influence.

Now he is back, talking about the future course of AIADMK, the party in power in Tamil Nadu. He was seen conversing with Venkiah Naidu and even PM Modi at Rajaji Hall during Jayalalithaa’s public homage.

In an interview to News18 Tamil, he talks about how ‘we’ will take forward the legacy of MGR and Jayalalithaa. And notice the man standing right next to him – BJP’s Aseervatham Achary.

Courtesy:The News Minute