Less than a week after the death of J Jayalalithaa, members of Sasikala Natarajan’s family have started a PR campaign on social media to showcase all that they have done for the late Tamil Nadu CM.
J Dhivakaran, Sasikala’s nephew, in a series of Facebook posts, claimed that the Mannargudi family helped Jayalalithaa in times of distress.
One of the posts reads, “After Amma was abandoned by her family, it was Sasikala’s brother Dhivakaran who saved her life three times from getting killed.” V Dhivarahan is Sasikala’s brother and Dhivakaran’s father.
Another post says, “Sasikala’s brother Dhivakaran endured 14 injuries on the head to rescue Jayalalithaa from a lathi-charge plot.”
These posts, with the hasthtag overtheyears, was a part of a series of posters and messages that talked about the family’s bond with Jayalalithaa.
Posters announcing the return of “golden man” M Nataraian, Sasikala’s estranged husband, were also seen in Chennai.
In these posters, Natarajan, who has spent time in Trichy Central Prison in connection with a land grab case, is portrayed as the man who will save the state of Tamil Nadu during the current leadership vacuum.
Incidentally, Natarajan, a former public relations officer who was a key member of Jayalalithaa’s political team when she started her career, fell out of Jayalalithaa’s favour in the 1990s.
Because of her disapproval of Natarajan, Jayalalithaa had asked Sasikala to choose between her and Natarajan.
The events in the last three or four days point to Sasikala and family filling up the power vacuum left behind by Jayalalithaa.
Posters hailing Sasikala Natarajan as the next leader have also been put up in parts of the state. TNM had reported earlier that Sasikala could be made the General Secretary of Amma’s party AIADMK.
DMK Plays it Cautiously
DMK treasurer M K Stalin, M Kanimozhi and other party leaders had paid tribute to Jayalalithaa at Rajaji Hall on Tuesday. DMK also published a poem for Jayalalithaa which read, “Even though you were our enemy, we thought it was a lion standing opposite us. We thought you shouldn't rule us, we didn't ever think you shouldn't live, Mother!”
The party also put up a garlanded picture of Jayalalithaa outside one of its offices.
“She was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, she was a tall leader and definitely it is a loss to the state of Tamil Nadu, any civilised party will pay tribute to her,” said DMK spokesperson Saravanan.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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