M. Natarajan, husband of jailed AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala died in Chennai in the wee hours of Tuesday. He was 76.
Ailing for some time, Natarajan had undergone a dual organ transplant in mid-2017. His health turned critical on Saturday after he developed a heart attack and was rushed to a private hospital in Chennai. Sasikala has been granted a 15-day emergency parole to take part in her husband’s final rites. The funeral will be held at Thanjavur, Sasikala’s hometown on Wednesday. The parole conditions for Sasikala are that she should be stationed at Thanjavur and not entertain any political visitors.
Sasikala had earlier been granted parole on October 7, 2017 to visit Natarajan who underwent simultaneous liver and kidney transplants. She stayed in Chennai at her niece KrishnaPriya’s house. This time, Sasikala will be at Natarajan’s village Vilar near Thanjavur.
It was Natarajan’s proximity with Jayalalithaa that took Sasikala to be her close aide. At one stage, she was even forced to leave Natarajan only to be with Jayalalithaa.
A Tamil enthusiast, Natarajan played a key role as a student leader in the anti-Hindi agitation in 1965 in Thanjavur. These agitations brought him closer to DMK president M. Karunanidhi and the party. It was this proximity with Karunanidhi that helped him get a government job as an assistant public relations officer in 1970-71. He was later elevated as a PRO during the regime of ADMK leader M.G. Ramachandran. His proximity with MGR took his graph further upwards.
Natarajan’s marriage with Sasikala was presided over by Karunanidhi in the 80s. When Jayalalithaa toured the state in the mid-1980s, Sasikala, a video parlour owner, got the contract for video coverage of the events. Jayalalithaa had asked her camerapersons to ensure that the footage showcased the support she had among the cadres. Apparently, Jayalalithaa was impressed by the coverage and she started borrowing video cassettes from Sasikala’s video parlour in Mylapore, a small video library called Vinod Video Vision.
However, Sasikala's entry into Poes Garden was in the late 80s after the death of MGR and when Jayalalithaa wanted someone to manage her household. The job was handed over to Natarajan and Sasikala, being his wife, also moved to the Poes garden house.
Natarajan’s prominence in the state politics shot up in 1989, when police stumbled on a resignation letter from his house. The letter was purportedly written by Jayaalithaa, who wanted to quit politics and settle in her Hyderabad residence just as a retired actress.
The newspaper reports on the leaked letter led to an unprecedented ruckus in the legislative assembly on March 25, 1989. The House, however, saw Jayalalithaa, who was then the leader of the unified AIADMK and the opposition leader, fight back with Karunanidhi only to be resurrected as his betenoire in the latter days.
In July 1989, when there were media reports about Natarajan allegedly manipulating Jayalalithaa, she reacted strongly. “Sasikala is my best friend and almost like a sister and Natarajan happened to be her husband,” Jayalalithaa said. In 1990, things started changing and when Natarajan began dominating, getting himself involved in the AIADMK party affairs, she decided to throw him out saying, “he is dominating me instead of obeying my orders.” He was also thrown out from Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence.
However, Natarajan maintained proximity with senior AIADMK leaders and managed to pull the strings despite being away from Jayalalithaa.
“If not for Natarajan, Jayalalithaa would have quit politics. It is true that Jayalalithaa banished him. But theirs was a love-hate relationship,” tells Journalist Shyam. In his autobiography Nenjam Sumakkum Ninaivugal, which has serialised in a defunct magazine called Tamilarasi, Natarajan has written about his days during anti-Hindi agitation, his initial days with MGR and his proximity with Jayalalithaa. He was also the editor of Puthiya Parvai magazine. Reportedly, Natarajan was the man behind uniting the then Jayalalithaa-Janaki factions of the AIADMK and making the former the leader of the unified AIADMK. He has written in his autobiography on how he brought together the then chief minister C.N. Annadurai and Karunanidhi in a public meeting in Thanjavur when they had some difference of opinion.