In a sudden development, Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa on Monday sacked her close friend, Sasikala Natarajan, and 13 others, mostly Sasikala's relatives, indicating a churning of sorts within the party.
Sources said that Sasikala left Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden bungalow on Sunday night.
A terse party press release issued in the afternoon merely said that Sasikala and 11 others, including her husband M Natarajan, her nephews, former MP T T V Dinakaran, Jayalalithaa's erstwhile foster son, V N Sudhakaran, V Bhaskaran, who was in charge of J J TV and her brother V K Diwakar have been expelled from the primary membership of the party.
A second release, which was issued couple of hours later, announced the expulsion of two more relatives of Sasikala, including V Mahadevan, former state secretary of the Jayalalithaa Forum, and his brother V Thangamani. The Midas Distilleries managing director Mohan, a close associate of Sasikala, has also been expelled from the party.
The move, coming as it does in the wake of a series of resignations and sackings of key officials, said to have been appointed through Sasikala, has sent shock waves within the party.
This is the second time that Jayalalithaa is distancing herself from her close friend, whom she has known since 1985. Sasikala has been staying with Jayalalithaa at her Poes Garden residence since 1989. Except for a brief period in 1996 when she estranged herself from Sasikala just after the electoral debacle, the two have always lived together.
The expulsion comes days ahead of the meeting of the party's decision making bodies, the general council and the executive, on December 30.
The Jayalalithaa-Sasikala saga has been a talking point in state political circles as the latter is seen with Jayalalithaa at most of her private and public appearances.
Sasikala is one of the accused in the disproportionate case relating to Jayalalithaa, who had appeared before a trial court in Bangalore recently.
SOURCE:TOI
