Former State Finance Minister and AIADMK leader Ponnaiyan has squarely blamed Sasikala, former aide for former chief-minister J. Jayalalithaa, for ‘hastening’ the demise of the ‘permanent’ general secretary of the AIADMK by administering ‘slow poison’ in the form of overdose of steroids.

The former chief-minister was admitted to Apollo Hospital (under highly mysterious circumstances) on the night of 22nd September, 2016 with complaints of fever and dehydration.  The Hospital kept releasing medical bulletins from time to time assuring party cadres and people of considerable progress in the then chief-minister’s health only to declare late on the night of 05th December, 2016 that she had passed away.

A private television news channel said last September that Jayalalithaa was ‘semi-conscious’ when she was admitted and never regained consciousness during her stay at the hospital and discounted the Hospital’s bulletins which stated that the chief-minister ate ‘idli’ and watched television.  She had also been suffering from breathing trouble, the channel pointed out.

Even as a commission of inquiry headed by Justice Arumuga Swamy (Retd.) has been probing the case, Ponnaiyan dropped a bombshell at a Kancheepuram party meeting claiming that Sasikala plotted the murder of her former boss by administering overdose of steroids into the latter’s body and hastening her demise.  “This went on for more than 8 months resulting in increase of Jayalalithaa’s blood sugar levels,” he said.

“Steroids are slow-killing poison and everybody knows one shouldn’t take it forever; Sasikala and her family members purposely did so with the evil intention of finishing off Jayalalithaa.  The Commission of Inquiry probing the demise should pay special attention to these points,” Ponnaiyan concluded.