No suspicion personally over Jaya’s death: OPS

In a big volte-face four years after leading a ‘Dharma Yudham’ seeking “justice” for J Jayalalithaa, former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam on Tuesday said he had no suspicion “personally” over the death of the AIADMK supremo and that he was only “reflecting” public sentiments.

Deposing before a one-man commission going into the circumstances that led to the death of Jayalalithaa, Panneerselvam also said neither V K Sasikala nor her family members plotted against the former multi-term Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who died on December 5, 2016, after a 75-day stay at Apollo Hospitals here.

Also Read | OPS appears before Jayalalithaa death probe commission

Panneerselvam’s deposition before the Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission for nine hours over two days is politically significant and adds a fresh twist to the politics over Jayalalithaa’s death. Panneerselvam has contradicted himself by his latest comments that “personally” he had no suspicion over Jayalalithaa’s death – at the height of his rebellion against Sasikala in 2017, he had suggested that there was a conspiracy in the demise of his leader, and he was the first one to seek a probe.

The AIADMK coordinator had also launched a full-throttle attack against Sasikala and her family members, including party rebel T T V Dhinakaran. During a cross-examination by Sasikala’s counsel Raja Senthoor Pandian on Tuesday, Panneerselvam said he still has good regards for the long-time aide of Jayalalithaa, whom he called chinnamma, a moniker for Sasikala, at a press briefing after the deposition.

“No," Panneerselvam replied when Pandian asked him whether he thought Sasikala, and her family members conspired against Jayalalithaa. When the question of “doubts” over Jayalalithaa’s death was put forward to Panneerselvam, he replied, “Personally, I had no doubts. I was only reflecting people’s sentiments over the issue.”

Panneerselvam had alleged that he was never allowed to meet Jayalalithaa and that Sasikala and her family controlled the access to her even to senior ministers of the then AIADMK government. However, on Tuesday, OPS told the Commission that he did not make any attempts to meet Jayalalithaa in the hospital due to the fear of her catching infection.

During the hearing, Panneerselvam acknowledged that Jayalalithaa’s health witnessed downfall after a Bengaluru court convicted her in a disproportionate assets (DA) case in September 2014.

The Commission before which Panneerselvam appeared for the past two days has so far spent Rs 3 crore on its functioning and was constituted only at his insistence. In fact, the formation of the Commission was a pre-requisite for Panneerselvam to merge his faction with that of Edappadi K Palaniswami in 2017.

The panel’s formation of the panel was always a political decision, and it was reinforced once again on Monday when Panneerselvam merely repeated what he had said about Jayalalithaa’s health and hospitalization in the past.

Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s long-time friend, had submitted a voluminous response, narrating her side of the story and how her conviction by a Bengaluru court in 2014 triggered a host of health issues for the former chief minister. The commission recently got its 12th extension – this time for five months -- till June 24, the second after the DMK came to power.

Jayalalithaa’s death is one of the most politicised issues in Tamil Nadu in the past few years with DMK also demanding a “fair probe” into the AIADMK leader’s demise. The DMK also raked up Jayalalithaa’s death in the run-up to the polls and at one time, the party also demanded a CBI probe.

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