Two days after Chief Minister Edapaddi Palanisamy announced that former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s residence ‘Veda Nilayam’ would be converted into a memorial, a team of revenue officials visited the area on Saturday.
A senior official told The Times of India that they conducted inspection of the premises after getting requests from the tourism department. They added that the main reason for the visit was to identify the boundaries proposed to be taken in line with the government proposal.
The official added that it would take time for the state government to issue an order that would implement the proposal.
Following the announcement by the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar had made it clear that the property was their right. "Veda Nilayam is our inheritance. They can’t buy, sell or hand it over to anyone else. It is my moral, legal and ethical right," she said.
She also said that she would move court over the matter.
However, Jayalalithaa’s nephew Deepak Jayakumar, said that he would not oppose the government’s move to build a memorial, but wanted the government to take permission from them.
On Saturday, he wrote a letter to CM Palanisamy stating that he was not against the government’s move but was upset with the way government had made the announcement without even taking his consent.
“Even for removing a tea shop along the way where a flyover is coming up, the government should follow the procedure. Otherwise, the affected person will move to court. When such is the legal position, how can the government make a unilateral announcement?” The New Indian Express quoted the letter as saying.
He also requested for the rights to maintain the memorial. He said that the government may change in a few years and the memorial might not be given its due importance, so he and his sister would prefer to hold the rights to maintain the memorial.
'Veda Nilayam', a 24,000 sq feet bungalow bought by Jayalalithaa's mother Sandhya in 1967, is estimated to be worth around Rs 90 crore at present. In the election affidavit filed in 2016, Jayalalithaa had claimed that the property was worth Rs 43 crore.
This property has not been sealed by the government after the verdict in the disproportionate assets case. The building next door that Jayalalithaa bought in 1997 for Rs 10.2 lakh has been sealed.
Ever since Jayalalithaa's death in December, many have made demands to convert her residence into a memorial, including the AIADMK faction led by O Panneerselvam.
As the government has announced a probe into Jayalalithaa’s death and also agreed to convert ‘Veda Nilayam’ into a memorial, the merger between the two AIADMK factions might soon become a reality.