Following repeated raids on their premises and Friday night’s raid on Poes Garden, members of V.K. Sasikala’s family on Saturday sought to blame former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for having left her close aide without any protection after her death.
When alive, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had made full use of her close aide Sasikala but left her without any safeguards after her death, said the latter’s brother V. Dhivakaran in Mannargudi on Saturday.
In a similar statement, the sidelined AIADMK leader and Sasikala’s nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran told a television channel that they (the three – Sasikala, J. Ilavarasi and V.N. Sudhakaran) were in prison because they were with “Amma.”
Asked about the perception that Sasikala’s family had cheated Jayalalithaa, he said out of 46 cases filed in 1996, the prime accused was Amma (in the disproportionate assets case).
“If we had cheated her, how would Amma get convicted?” he asked.
Asked if it was right for him and his followers to say Sasikala and her family were suffering after Jayalalithaa’s death, Mr. Dhinakaran said, “We are not saying it. Everyone knows.”
Speaking to media persons in Mannargudi, Mr. Dhivakaran said Sasikala had been under “observation” since 1996 and she had not been spared even a single day, “not even when Jayalalithaa was around”.
In fact, Jayalalithaa fully utilised Sasikala when she was alive, but left her unguarded, Mr. Dhivakaran alleged.
“Imagine the plight of a person who executed everything that her master told her to and is finally left to fend for herself when the master is gone. This is the plight of Sasikala now and people have to learn a lesson from her story,” Mr. Dhivakaran said.
That Jayalalithaa did not provide Sasikala with a security cover after her demise is the big issue now, he said.