Tamil Nadu: Jayalalithaa expels Sasikala from her home and party

AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa with her long-time associate Sasikala.Politics in Tamil Nadu is opaque at the best of times, near crisis it is foggier than Delhi in winter. In the absence of publicly stated reasons, speculation abounds about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's terse statement on December 19, expelling Sasikala and her family from the AIADMK.Jayalalithaa, 63, is believed to have told Sasikala, 54, to pack up and leave Poes Garden in Chennai, a home she shared with the AIADMK leader for over 20 years. The long-time confidante, her husband M. Natarajan, three of her nephews-TTV Dinakaran, Baskaran and V.N. Sudhakaran-Natarajan's brother M. Ramachandran and Sasikala's relative Ravanan have been stripped of their primary membership of the party.Conspiracy theories are plenty. One such doing the rounds is that Sasikala's husband had ambitions of taking over after Jayalalithaa. The family is believed to have met at a hotel in Bangalore to decide on the future course of action, in the event of Jayalalithaa's possible conviction in the Rs 66-crore disproportionate assets case being heard at a court in Parapana Agrahara in Bangalore. The theory doesn't stop there. Apparently, help was also sought from an astrologer in Chennai to divine who in the family would be most capable of taking over the government and party. Jayalalithaa, the story goes, made her move after hearing about this meeting. She is reported to have held closed-door meetings with her Cabinet colleagues, loyalists and top police officials. Giving credence to this is Tuglak Editor Cho S. Ramaswamy's meeting with her in mid-December. Jayalalithaa followed it by summoning state DGP K. Ramanujam. Cho refused to discuss the issue, but reports suggest that he played a crucial role in Jayalalithaa deciding to snap ties with her udan pirava sagothari (a sister who is not a blood relative).The very first indication of Jayalalithaa's shake-up was the transfer of the intelligence chief, P. Manickavel. Then DSP Thirumalaic-hamy, who is Jayalalithaa's personal security officer, was given marching orders for "passing on information to Sasikala. Next came the suspension of top police official, P. Sivanandi, who reportedly met Sasikala's relative, Divakar. This was followed by the expulsion of another Sasikala relative, A. Panneerselvam, a retired IAS officer who had been appointed officer on special duty in the government."It is a surprise. The two have fallen out in the past. But this time around, Jayalalithaa has thrown out the entire family from the party, which has never happened," says Janata Party state President V. Chandralekha, who introduced Sasikala to Jayalalithaa in the early 1980s. She adds a word of caution. "It is too early to say if the split is permanent.Sasikala's clout had grown to unprecedented levels. Ministers and officials reported to her. She even released a list of 160 candidates during the Assembly polls in May on her own, which Jayalalithaa had to withdraw and release afresh. Such was her hold that only those who had her blessings were able to secure tenders and projects.According to sources, Sasikala and her husband's attempt to corner the Rs 16,650 crore Chennai monorail project was brought to Jayalalithaa's notice. "Sasikala was definitely an extra-constitutional authority. She was more like a shadow chief minister," says S.V. Sekar, a former AIADMK MLA who was expelled in 2008 at Sasikala's behest. He adds, "I was expelled because I was Amma's loyalist and used to speak my mind to her."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Dec 23, 2011 23:24 IST--- ENDS ---

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Tamil Nadu: Jayalalithaa expels Sasikala from her home and party

Jayalalithaa expels Sasikala from her home and party. Speculation runs rife in Chennai that the AIADMK chief's long-time confidante stumbled on ambition.

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