Ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Friday dismissed Opposition demand for a 'white paper' on treatment given to late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, saying it was a part of a 'planned campaign' against her aide Sasikala, who, it said, was being backed by senior party leaders as her political heir.
These parties were raising such demand when Jayalalithaa’s earlier actions have been suggestive of her seeing Sasikala as political heir, senior AIADMK leader and its spokesperson C Ponnaiyan said.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M K Stalin and Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S Ramadoss, both of whom had sought a white paper on Thursday, did not belong to his party, he told reporters.
"They are doing politics in Tamil Nadu for political gains. Doctors monitored Amma (Jayalalithaa). Specialists from Apollo Hospitals (where she was admitted), AIIMS doctors, Dr Richard Beale from London and those from Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore worked as a team," he said.
"Ramadoss is not the one who doesn’t know it. Opposition Leader Stalin is not the one who is not aware of it. Such demands are coming amid growing chorus for Sasikala to take over the reins of the party," he said.
There is no need to give credence to such demands for white paper, he said.
Stalin and Ramadoss had on Thursday sought a white paper on Jayalalithaa’s medical treatment amid the succession issue in the AIADMK following her demise.
Party seniors including Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, AIADMK propaganda secretary and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambiudurai and a host of ministers have already extended support to Sasikala’s elevation as the general secretary, a post held by Jayalalithaa till her death.
Ponnaiyan, speaking outside the Poes Garden residence where the late AIADMK supremo’s ‘13th day’ of her death was observed, showed a purported 1991 investment document of the former chief minister, wherein, he said, Jayalalithaa had mentioned Sasikala as the ‘nominee’ in it.
Jayalalithaa had made an investment of Rs 7 lakh with a private firm and had mentioned her close confidante as ‘nominee’ and ‘this can be suggested to show that she saw her (Sasikala) as her political heir then itself’, Ponnaiyan asserted.
‘...there are no differences in the party and there are unanimous voices that Chinnamma is the conscience of Amma, much like she (Jayalalithaa) was the conscience of (AIADMK founder) M G Ramachandran,” he said.
He charged the opposition parties with carrying out an online campaign against Sasikala.
Sasikala may not have responded to the calls to take over leadership of AIADMK but pleas in this regard keep mounting, Ponnaiyan said.
On Friday’s congregation of party MLAs and Ministers at Poes Garden, he said they had come to pay condolences at Jayalalithaa’s ‘13th day’ ceremony following her demise on December 5.
