'Couldn't Show Jayalalithaa In Nightie': Dhinakaran Claims Video Proof

Chennai: For months till her death in December, the only source of information on the state of J Jayalalithaa in hospital was a handful of her closest aides, including VK Sasikala, top AIADMK leaders and ministers. A minister's confession that he was "forced to lie" about the former chief minister's health has raised the question - did ministers, the ruling AIADMK and bureaucrats all lie?

Retired judge A Arumughaswamy has been asked by the Tamil Nadu government to investigate. This was one of the demands that Jayalalithaa loyalist turned rebel O Panneerselvam or OPS had raised to return to the party.

But many believe the investigation should be handled by at least a judge, if not the CBI.

"It is lie upon more lies, only an investigation can nail the lies," actor Kamal Haasan told NDTV today.

Questions that nagged the ruling party throughout Jayalalithaa's three-month hospital stay came roaring back after it emerged this weekend that state Forest Minister Dindigul C Srinivasan had said at a party meeting: "Sasikala and her family would tell us she (Jayalalithaa) ate idli, had coffee, was given sweets, did that and this... we told what she (Sasikala) said... The truth is that nobody saw her... Even high-profile dignitaries including Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi did not visit Jayalalithaa, but only met the hospital chairman."
 In October, a doctor attested that Jayalalithaa had an inflamed right hand, so she had signed off on a candidate's election affidavit with a thumb print and not a signature.

"Begging" people's forgiveness, Mr Srinivasan appeared to imply that he was forced to lie by Ms Sasikala, who took control of the party after Jayalalithaa's death in December and was trying to take over as Chief Minister before she was sent to jail for corruption.

Sasikala's nephew and proxy TTV Dhinakaran, sidelined recently by the party, said his aunt had shot a video of Jayalalithaa in hospital but it had not been released so far as she was in a "nightie".  The video, he claims, was taken when she was being shifted from the ICU to a room.

"Amma (Jayalalithaa) had lost a lot of weight... it was a video shot by my aunt (Sasikala) herself. You all know none would have seen Amma in a nightie, not any functionary. Even when late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Amma following her accident in 1989, she was fully attired, she always maintained that dignity," Mr Dhinakaran said.

Sasikala was believed to be the only person to have access to Jayalalithaa. But significantly, OPS, as acting Chief Minister, was in charge at the time. Mr Dhinakaran said he should also be accountable.