Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam began his fast at 10am on Wednesday in Chennai’s Rajarathinam stadium demanding a CBI probe into the “mysterious” death of late CM J Jayalalithaa.
His fast comes two days after the Tamil Nadu government made public Jayalalithaa’s discharge summary prepared by Apollo Hospital and the visitation reports by AIIMS doctors, to dispel the rumours surrounding the late CM’s 75-day hospitalisation.
Panneerselvam , former minister Natham Viswanathan and leaders such as E Madhusudhanan, PH Pandian and C Ponnaiyan together with AIADMK cadres will be on a fast from 10am to 5pm. His supporters are also carrying out a fast in other districts across Tamil Nadu, with Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan leading the sit-in strike at Kanchipuram.
The former CM is expected to make an explosive revelation following his fast. “OPS will reveal more truths about Sasikala at the end of the fast at 5pm,” JCT Prabhakar, a former AIADMK MLA belonging to the OPS camp, said.
Days after he was ‘forced’ to resign from the Chief Ministerial post, OPS promised to hold a judicial inquiry over Jayalalithaa’s death.
On February 28, Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan made a representation to the President demanding a probe on the death of former AIADMK supremo. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Maitreyan had said that there were still “doubts” in the minds of the people.
Along with Apollo Hospital’s discharge summary and the AIIMS reports, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday issued a press release aiming to bust several theories around Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation including that she had been pushed. Denying that there was any trauma, the press release noted, "There were pre-existing co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension, asthmatic bronchitis and hypothyroidism, but clearly the treatment report of Apollo Hospital, as well as that of AIIMS do not mention any evidence of trauma or any other event as alleged by certain political leaders."
"Certain insinuations have been made that administration of wrong drugs over a period of time prior to hospitalization had led to health complications for the late Honorable Chief Minister. In this context, the medical reports indicate that except for corticosteroids administered for atopic dermatitis, the late Hon’ble Chief Minister was only taking oral hypoglycemic and anti-hypertensive drugs to control pre-existing diabetes mellitus and hyper tension.”