TN minister contradicts colleagues, says 'all of us met Jayalalitha in hospital'
Contradicting the claim of two his cabinet colleagues, Tamil Nadu minister Sellur K Raju on Tuesday said all the ministers met Jayalalitha in the hospital.
"All the ministers met her," he told reporters when asked if he had met Jayalalithaa during her 75 days of hospitalisation from September 22 last year.
Raju, however, refused to elaborate, and said the death of 'Amma (Jayalalithaa)' was a huge loss. The cooperation minister said he was not prepared to say anything more on the issue.
"You must only ask the minister who had expressed that opinion," he said when pressed further on the claim by Forest Minister Dindigul C Srinivasan that AIADMK leaders had "lied" about the health condition of Jayalalithaa and none of them had seen her in hospital.
Srinivasan's comments have triggered a renewed demand by the DMK and other opposition parties for a thorough probe into the death of Jayalalithaa.
Addressing a public meeting in Madurai, Srinivasan had on September 23 apologised to the people, saying they had lied about Jayalalithaa's health.
He said no one was allowed to meet Jayalalithaa during her hospitalisation and all those came were told by her close aide V K Sasikala's relatives that she was "all right".
Srinivasan had said that, afraid of Sasikala, party leaders lied so that people believed that Jayalalithaa was improving.
He had said that their claim of 'Amma' eating idli and tea was based on information given to them by Sasikala.
Endorsing his views, Commercial Taxes Minister K C Veeramani yesterday said the ministers were not able to see the late chief minister even one day.
At a public meeting in Vellore District, Veeramani, without naming Sasikala or her family, said, "Out of fear of this family... we would tell what we were told (by Sasikala's kin)..that Amma had two idlis, she spoke and that she is fine."
On the differing views of his colleagues, Revenue Minister R B Udhaya Kumar today said it was their individual opinion based on their experience.
Jayalalithaa,
who
was
admitted
to
the
Apollo
Hospitals
here
on
September
22,
2016,
passed
away
on
December
5.
The
state
government
yesterday
named
retired
judge
of
Madras
High
Court
A
Arumughaswamy
as
head
of
the
inquiry
commission
to
probe
the
death
of
Jayalalithaa.
A judicial probe was one of the pre-conditions of O Panneerselvam, the present deputy chief minister, for the merger of factions led by him and Chief Minister K Palaniswami.
PTI