A day after Dhivakaran, brother of V.K. Sasikala, alleged that late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had left her former aide of 33 years unguarded, his nephew and sidelined AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran sought to do some damage control describing it as an emotional outburst.
According to him, concerned over the current travails of Sasikala, Mr. Dhivakaran said that Jayalalithaa had left her aide unguarded after her death but there was no need to blow this out of proportion.
Mr. Dhivakaran had contended that Jayalalithaa made full use of Sasikala during her lifetime but left her with no safeguards when she departed.
Mr. Dhinakaran claimed that Mr. Dhivakaran was overcome by sibling affection when he made those remarks.
Those who had propitiated Jayalalithaa were afraid of going near the Poes Garden residence now for fear of attracting cases and inquiry, he contended.
“Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who was speaking ill of him for safeguarding his post, was not worthy of the seat he was occupying,” Mr. Dhinakaran said.
The I-T searches at the Poes Garden residence of the late Chief Minister were the culmination of year-long efforts to decimate the party in the eyes of the common man, he contended.
He claimed that Jayalalithaa had denied Mr. Palaniswami a seat in the 2001 Assembly elections but now he has betrayed the party in his bid to escape the clutches of law.
“Even during the campaigning for the aborted byelection to the R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency earlier this year, it was only Mr. Palaniswami who voluntarily donned the cap (Dhinakaran’s election symbol) and campaigned for me after I was unanimously selected the candidate by the AIADMK Executive Council. Such people were acting in a selfish manner only to protect themselves from any punitive action,” Mr. Dhinakaran alleged.
