Sasikala Natarajan, widely considered to be the political heir of Jayalalithaa, will have to face multiple challenges on her way to the top post of the AIADMK as murmurs against her in the political circle are growing louder.
Two weeks after the demise of the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, an expelled party leader raised questions over her death and claimed that Natarajan and her family might have had something to do with her passing.
Sasikala Pushpa, who was expelled from the AIADMK for her 'anti-party activities', said that proper inquiry should be done as the people want to know the actual reason of their leader's death.
“Tamil Nadu people suspect Sasikala Natarajan and her family might have done something in Amma’s death; need justice,” she was quoted as saying by a news agency.
Her allegations came a day after she moved the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe or a judicial investigation by an apex court judge into the death of the AIADMK chief.
“Tamil Nadu people, entire nation wish to know what happened to the late chief minister. The CM of a state has been foul played like this is a million dollar question. I just want to take this matter to SC to get justice,” she told the news agency.
Earlier, Pushpa had said that she would fight till her last breath to ensure that Natarajan doesn't become the party general secretary. "Senior leaders are being threatened by her family; everyone feels that. They are being compelled to accept her as the general secretary," she had said last week.
Jayalalithaa, who had been at the helm of the party for over a quarter of a century, breathed her last at Apollo Hospital in Chennai on December 5, a day after she suffered a cardiac arrest. She had been under treatment in the hospital since September 22.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu Telugu Yuva Sakthi had also moved the apex court seeking a comprehensive probe into the AIADMK leader's death and a direction to the authorities concerned to reveal her medical reports.
Although several top leaders of the AIADMK are rooting for Sasikala to lead the party, many of its ground-level functionaries are said to be unhappy over her possible anointment. The resent is vivid, with protests by party workers being reported from various parts of the state.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam seems set to face a revolt within the party as a section of its leaders on Sunday demanded that Sasikala be in charge not only of the party but the government, too.
