In his first sit-down television interview in years, and the first detailed one since Late CM Jayalalithaa passed away, Sasikala’s husband M Natarajan on Saturday spoke to a Tamil news channel and said that he was the man who groomed Jayalalitha into politics, but it was due to her ‘sense of insecurity’ and the conspiracy of others around her that she doubted him and kept him away.
Not shying away from taking names, he said that it was former DGP of TN police K Ramanujam, an officer known to be close to Jayalalithaa, who sent a police intelligence report stating that Sasikala, M Natarajan and other family members plotted against Jayalalithaa at the funeral of Sasikala’s sister.
“How could we have plotted at a funeral? But he wrote that and made her believe it. There was massive misunderstanding because of it. Sasikala was sent out after that. The damage that incident did could not be undone till the end,” he lamented.
Jayalalithaa with former DGP Ramanujam. Courtesy: OneIndia
“If there are people who were persecuted for helping out, that would be me and Sasikala,” he said.
“It is well known that I helped Jayalalithaa after the death of MGR. She took me along with her. I was the one who wrote her first press release after MGR's death,” he said, adding that when MGR died, it was Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran who woke her up at 5am and informed her. He said that even the 2011 election manifesto was prepared at his home on the outskirts of Chennai.
When asked why she never acknowledged his contribution, he said, “Because I never asked. I am not the kind of person who asks for credit or quid pro quo.” He said that she was very insecure about her position and thus doubted him, and believed false stories about him. “I never spoke out against her because that is not in Tamil culture.”
He also said that he last saw her at the 1991 oath-taking ceremony of Jayalalithaa, and never since. “When she asked me not to speak to some people, I left her. I cannot be a slave, I grew up in the self-respect movement,” he said.
Even so, he distanced himself from the recent events in the AIADMK. “I am only an observer. I can be a participant, but I have never claimed appreciation for that. I can be both an observer and a participant but right now I am an observer only, just like you,” he told M Gunasekaran of News18 Tamil Nadu.
Pointing fingers at the opposition for the chaos in AIADMK, he said, “The infighting in the AIADMK has been kindled from outside. Those who never opened their mouths in front of Jayalalithaa are now speaking out. It is very amusing.”
Natarajan had earlier also blamed the BJP for breaking the AIADMK. However, he clarified, “When I spoke against BJP earlier, I didn't speak against PM Modi or other national leaders of the party. There are people here in TN, who I suspected were hatching a conspiracy.” He also hoped that an EPS-OPS merger would happen soon.
He also showered praise on Modi, “Modi is just like Annadurai. Like Anna showed us that even a common man can contest elections, win and take charge, Modi has also done it. So, I will always have appreciation for that.”
He stated that he is under the process of writing his biography, in which he would reveal several things.
He also stated that his family members were wrongly convicted in corruption cases and would get relief from a review petition soon.