Jayalalithaa critical: Centre assures assistance to Tamil Nadu

With Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J ayalalithaa's health condition deteriorating following a cardiac arrest, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Monday assured all possible assistance from the Centre. 

Rijiju told the media that Tamil Nadu might require additional forces to maintain the law and order situation in the wake of the Chief Minister's deteriorating health condition.

"The practice is that if there is a situation in state and the state finds themselves inadequate to maintain the law and order situation then the Centre is always willing to send extra forces. It is our primary duty to ensure that the state is being helped in all possible way they require. But we cannot intervene on our own," he added.

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister JP Nadda said a team of four top doctors from Delhi's prestigious AIIMS has been sent to Chennai on the request of Apollo Hospital. 

Jayalalithaa, 68, had a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening and was put on an extracorporeal membrane heart assist device, a life support system that aids heart and lung functioning.