Former Chief Minister and AIADMK rebel leader O. Panneerselvam said on Wednesday that he was informed that Jayalalithaa had passed away at 4.30 p.m. on December 5, seven hours before her official time of death.
“At 6.30 or 6.45 pm on December 5, I was informed that she had died at 4.30 p.m. I immediately went to the hospital. When I tried to get more information, they kept saying that it has not yet happened and kept giving lame reasons. They eventually announced that she passed away at 11.30 p.m.,” he said.
Mr. Panneerselvam made the allegation during the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. fast undertaken by him demanding an independent inquiry into the death of Jayalalithaa. Though he had talked of a judicial inquiry in the past too, on Wednesday, the former CM demanded a CBI inquiry into his predecessor’s death. The event, organised on the road outside Rajarathinam Stadium, was held in conjunction with similar fasts held at various districts.
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‘Didn’t talk to Sasikala’
The former CM also revealed that he did not interact with V.K. Sasikala during 2012-16, claiming that this was on Jayalalithaa’s instructions. He said that he spoke to Sasikala only after Jayalalithaa’s hospital admission.
“Once, after Amma was admitted in the hospital in September, as I was leaving the hospital, she [Sasikala] asked me how I was doing. ‘I am doing fine,’ I replied,” he said.
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Reacting to the reports released by State Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan that he was kept in the loop, Mr. Panneerselvam said, “If he doesn’t take back his report, I will file a case against him.”
Heavy police cover
At Tirunelveli and Madurai, the police provided heavy protection at the protest venues as Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami was also addressing government functions in the two cities during the day. In the protest meeting at Madurai, Lok Sabha MP R. Gopalakrishnan and MLAs S.S. Saravanan and Manickam openly dared Revenue Minister R.B. Udaykumar to quit and contest the elections again.
OPS’ supporters alleged that an unidentified gang attacked the car of Kadamalaigundu Union former chairman ‘Murukodai’ Ramar in Theni district in the early hours of Wednesday. They blamed that their rivals in the AIADMK (Thanga Tamil Selvan MLA’s supporters who are with Sasikala) were behind the act.
A complaint was lodged and the police registered a case.
Ex-minister and Aavin Chairman P.C. Ramasamy led the protest at Erode, which was also addressed by Tiruppur MP V. Sathyabama, former Erode Mayor P. Malliga Paramasivam, and former MLAs, including Kittusamy and Narayanan.