: AIADMK cadre, office-bearers and representatives of other political parties continued to troop to Apollo Hospitals from early morning on Tuesday.
A few who managed to get inside the hospital included R. Mutharasan, State secretary of Communist Party of India; K.A.M. Muhammed Abubacker, MLA of Indian Union Muslim League; and actor Mansoor Ali Khan.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Mansoor Ali Khan said that the rumours and false messages about Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s health spread through WhatsApp were causing havoc. He appealed to people not to share such posts.
Finance Minister O. Paneerselvam, the Chief Minister’s friend Sasikala and her advisor Sheela Balakrishnan were among the regular visitors who were seen at the hospital on Tuesday.
Senior AIADMK leader Ponnaiyan, who addressed the media outside the hospital, said that Ms. Jayalalithaa was showing excellent progress. “If the opposition is asking for an interim CM, they neither know politics nor the law. It is not legal, just political opportunism on their part,” he said.
Party supporters, cadres and well-wishers of the Chief Minister too continued to wait outside the gates of the hospital, hoping for some news on her health.
Among those who were waiting outside the hospital was 82-year-old Siyathammal. Though a metal rod was implanted on her thigh after a surgery, Ms. Siyathammal does not mind the strain of travelling all the way from her home in Korattur.
“I live in a rented, thatched hut. After my husband died, it was difficult to make ends meet. I was never a member of the AIADMK, but I now receive Rs. 1,000 a month as old-age pension. I just want to have a glimpse of the Chief Minister and thank her,” she says.
Ms. Siyathammal was accompanied by her daughter Poornima, a pavement hawker near Korattur railway station.
According to Poornima, the death of her father and later, her husband, had pushed the family into penury. “Nearly 2,000 families have benefited from the old age pension scheme,” she adds.
Sporting tattoos of the party’s two leaves symbol and a picture of the former chief minister M.G. Ramachandran, R. Jayasenthamizhan, a 31-year-old native of Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district, said that he had been waiting on the pavement opposite the hospital for the last 12 days.
Dream to strengthen party
“My parents and the rest of the relatives in my family belong to different parties, but I have been a member of the AIADMK for as long as I can remember. I sleep on the pavement and I go to Koyambedu where I bathe and rest in a lodge for one hour and come back here,” he says. “It is my dream to strengthen the party in the town as it has won only twice,” he added.
