Ready to face any probe over Jayalalithaa’s death: Sasikala

Team Udayavani, Feb 9, 2017, 12:23 PM IST

Chennai: Expressing her readiness to “face any probe” over the death of J Jayalalithaa, AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala said that she hopes the Tamil Nadu Governor would “uphold the Constitution” and invite her to take oath as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

She also said she was pained at the “politicisation of Amma’s death.” Sasikala said that she was looking for an “explanation” why Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao refused to give her an audience despite many requests.

“We tried to meet him, but was told that the Governor is in Ooty. I hope the Governor protects the Constitution and upholds the dignity of law,” she said in an interview to CNN-News18 TV channel.

Apparently referring to the questions raised by Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who has rebelled against her, she said “Amma Jayalalithaa knows who am I. So I don’t need to answer anyone else.”

Attacking Panneerselvam, whom she called a “traitor”, she alleged that his act was a betrayal to Amma and claimed that his actions in the assembly were “suspicious.”
She alleged that the opposition DMK is now looking at Panneerselvam as one of their own.

Earlier, Panneerselvam had ordered a probe into what he said were doubts regarding the death of Jayalalithaa, which would be headed by a retired High Court judge. He had also accused Sasikala of not allowing him to meet the late Chief Minister when she was hospitalised for over 70 days.

“I am ready to face any inquiry into Jayalalithaa’s death. Jayalalithaa knows who I am and how I behaved with her. Even the doctors who treated her know how I had treated her. I don’t have any problem with an enquiry commission,” she said.

The AIADMK leader said that she was not a bit worried about a probe but it is sad that Jayalalithaa’s death was being politicised.

“We called doctors from the world over. All the news about her health is planted. There was no delay in taking Amma to the hospital,” she asserted.

Sasikala also rubbished Panneerselvam’s claim that he was threatened and forced to resign as Chief Minister.

“There is no truth in his claim that he was threatened by us. He proposed me to take over as General Secretary of the party. Somebody is behind this. I think all this is politically motivated,” she claimed.

Sasikala was chosen as CM nominee on Sunday but is yet to get an invitation from the Governor for swearing in.

Refusing to be drawn into a debate over this aspect, she only said “we have faxed a letter to the Governor. We have sent a letter again to him to remind him about our request. They gave an acknowledgement, but that’s it,” she told the channel.

Sasikala also targetted rival party DMK alleging it may have had a role in instigating Panneerselvam to rebel.

“DMK must be behind Panneerselvam’s recent activities,” she said. DMK President M K Stalin, has vehemently denied his party has had anything to do with it.

“DMK is not only our political opposition, they are enemy our party too. We want to serve the people like how Jayalalithaa did. DMK did nothing for them,” she said.