The palace politics in the AIADMK took a curious turn with Jayalalithaa's estranged confidante Sasikala deposing before a special court hearing.
The palace politics in the AIADMK took a curious turn on Saturday with Jayalalithaa's estranged confidante Sasikala deposing before a special court hearing. She deposed in the disproportionate case that Jayalalithaa had no role in the business transactions and she (Sasikala) alone was responsible for the all the financial deals connected with the firms Sasi Enterprises and Jaya Publications.
Those in the DMK and the Vijayakant-led DMDK who were expecting some sensitive disclosures against Jayalalithaa from Sasikala (who was ousted from the AIADMK as well as the Poes Garden residence of the chief minister) were stunned when she gave a clean chit to her in the case.
But the drama staged in the AIADMK camp saw another anti-climax when the Chennai Police arrested Natarajan, Sasikala’s husband, for alleged land grab and criminal intimidation following a private complaint.
Sasikala’s younger brother Diwakaran and another relation Ravanan are already in police custody in connection with charges ranging from land grabbing and financial frauds.
It was rumored that Sasikala and her relations were expelled from the AIADMK as well as Poes Garden following their efforts to oust Jayalalithaa and anoint Natarajan as the next chief minister.
According to the political grapevine, nearly 60 members of the 150-AIADMK MLAs owe their allegiance to Sasikala and her husband Natarajan though till now not a single MLA has uttered anything against Jayalalithaa in the open.
The general expectation in other political camps was that Sasikala would reveal some sensitive matters against Jayalalithaa which could have jeopardised her chief ministership. But Sasikala, who heads the Mannargudi Mafia, reportedly broke down in the court during questioning by the prosecution. She has been asked to appear in the court next week for further questioning.
Jayalalithaa and Sasikala are co-accused in the Rs66 crore disproportionate case, a sum disproportionate to Jayalalithaa’s known sources of income when she was the chief minister for the first time during 1991 and 1996. Sasikala was named as a co-accused in the case filed against her 1998 by the then DMK government, which subsequently was shifted out for trial in Bangalore court in 2003 after Jayalalithaa returned to power in Tamil Nadu in 2001.
Since then, after several adjournments and legal battles going upto Supreme Court, Jayalalithaa finally had to submit for questioning on two days in November last year during which she answered hundreds of questions. Sasikala, incidentally was questioned for the first time on Saturday, which remained inconclusive and she has to attend court on Thursday next for further questioning in the case.
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