Jaya death probe

The Tamil Nadu chief minister has ordered a commission of inquiry into the death of former CM J. Jayalalithaa. There had been several types of reports about the circumstances in which she was moved to a corporate hospital in Chennai and her demise after 75 days of treatment. Edapaddi K. Palaniswami also disclosed that Jaya’s residence in Poes Garden will be converted into a memorial for the AIADMK leader. Both moves have clearly been inspired to accommodate the long standing demands of former CM O. Panneerselvam and his rebel MLAs who were somewhat intransigent in their stand on the merger of their faction with Edapaddi’s ruling camp which commands the loyalty of sufficient MLAs in the Assembly to stay in power.

The only ones to fear a probe into Jaya’s death would be those who may have been responsible for creating the condition in which she was rushed to hospital. There is reason to believe that Jaya staged a remarkable recovery until she suffered the cardiac arrest on December 5, 2016. The perception that as a resident of ‘Veda Nilayam’, Sasikala should have been more forthcoming on Jaya’s treatment will not go away regardless of what the commission concludes. The exclusion of Sasikala and her proxies from power is important if Tamil Nadu has to move on from a sordid period of unbridled corruption. The mindless aggrandisement of personal wealth had to stop and the only way it could have been done was to remove those who controlled a mass leader and ran her palace like regents.