Gag Order by AIADMK? Ministers Evade Questions on Jayalalithaa’s Death

Chennai: As claims and counterclaims within the fractured AIADMK deepen the mystery behind former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s death, the party has imposed a gag diktat on its ministers.

Sources said the AIADMK has ordered its ministers to not talk about Jayalalithaa’s days in Chennai’s Apollo Hospital where she was admitted from September 22, 2016 till her death on December 5.

When CNN-News18 tried to speak to Tamil Nadu Law Minister C Ve Shanmugham on Jayalalithaa’s death, he tried evading the question, saying the report of an independent inquiry commission was awaited. Asked about the contradictory statements on Jayalalithaa’s health before her death, he declined to comment.

The move comes days after the state’s Forest Minister C Sreenivasan said he and other AIADMK members had “lied" about the health condition of Jayalalithaa.

"We would have told lies that she (Jayalalithaa) had idlis and people met her. The truth is that nobody saw her," Sreenivasan said adding even the national leaders used to sit in Apollo Hospitals chief Pratap Reddy's room along with the AIADMK ministers.

"We all lied then so that the party's secret does not get leaked," Sreenivasan had said. He said it was only VK Sasikala, a close aide of Jayalalithaa who is now jailed in a corruption case, used to meet the CM.

Reacting to the charge, TTV Dinakaran, Sasikala’s nephew, had said that after October 1, 2016 even Sasikala was not allowed inside Jayalalithaa's room. He said on the instruction of doctors, Sasikala would go inside Jayalalithaa's room for two minutes.

The Tamil Nadu government has set up an inquiry commission headed by retired Madras High Court judge Justice A Arumugaswamy to probe the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa’s death.

Jayalalithaa’s patient care report released last week said her sugar level at the time of admission was 508, while oxygen saturation level was 45%.

The report revealed that there were no external injuries, contradicting claims that she was pushed down by someone at her Poes Garden residence.