(File photo)

CHENNAI: A few AIADMK ministers spun lies around then chief minister J Jayalalithaa when she was in hospital, Tamil Nadu forest minister Dindigul C Sreenivasan said at a public meeting in Madurai on Friday. Saying that no minister had any opportunity to meet her in hospital, and hence no one knew the reality, Sreenivasan said, “We told lies that she (Jayalalithaa) had idlis and chutney and people met her. But friends, the truth is that nobody was allowed to meet her. I apologise before you for telling such lies in the past (sic). In fact, we all told lies about Amma.“

AIADMK cadres stood stunned as they heard the confession. This revelation by one of the top ministers in the cabinet has strengthened the case for a CBI probe into the circumstances that led to Jay alalithaa's hospitalisation and death, observers said.

“Dignitaries who visited the hospital were at best offered chairs to sit on the first floor. Nobody was permitted to go beyond that. (Jayalalithaa's room was in the second floor.) After a brief chat, all of them left. Nobody saw Amma,“ said Sreenivasan. Governor C Vidyasagar Rao and many others, including DMK working president M K Stalin, were stopped much before Jayalalithaa's room in Apollo Hospital, Sreenivasan said. A week ago, he had accused Jaya aide Sasikala and her family of maintaining “intriguing secrecy“ about Jayalalithaa's treatment in hospital.

Incidentally , in March this year, the same minister had given a clean chit to Sasikala and her family members saying there was nothing suspicious about Jayalalithaa's treatment or death. He had also criticised O Panneerselvam -then heading a breakaway faction of AIADMK -and his supporters for seeking a probe into her death.

Strangely, the forest min ister said the ministers indulged in disinformation about Jayalalithaa as they did not want the party's secrets to leak.

“Even if there are differences within family members, we speak in hushed tones so that the neighbour doesn't get to know about our problems. Similarly , we didn't want the party's secrets to leak,“ Sreenivasan said. While ministers were not allowed to go near Jayalalithaa citing that it could cause an infection, Sasikala and her family members were freely going near her room, Sreenivasan said.

The government has ordered a probe into her treatment and death. “We have doubts about her death. Why weren't we allowed to go near her? When doctors, ward boys and nurses were able to go near her room, why were we not allowed?“ asked Sreenivasan.

A week ago, speaking at MGR centenary , Sreenivasan had said, “The (Sasikala's) family did not allow anybody near Amma during her hospitalisation. They alone know how Amma died.“ Efforts by TOI to reach him to clarify his flipflops failed.



In Video: No one was allowed to see Jayalalithaa in hospital: Tamil Nadu minister