Sasikala rejects report indicting her for Jayalalithaa’s death, says never interfered in Amma’s treatment

In a three-page statement, Sasikala said people will no longer support the stand of those who did not have any courage to take on Jayalalithaa politically and are now watching the politicisation of her death. She added people have realised there is no controversy about her death.

Sasikala also claimed the commission had exceeded its limits and questioned its need to level unnecessary allegations against her based on its assumptions. “The Commission in its findings has noted that since 2012, Amma and I were not on good terms. How did they arrive at such a conclusion? Who informed them? The late Puratchithalaivi would not have told them. Then what is the ulterior motive behind making such a false, absurd remark? I leave it to the public to understand to whose political benefit these allegations have been made,” she said.

Commenting on the commission’s observation on the medical treatment Jayalalithaa received, Sasikala said, “I never interfered with the medical treatment given to Puratchithalaivi Amma. I did not study medicine to provide my views on the matter. The medical team decided on what kind of medicines and procedures should be administered [to Jayalalithaa]. My only intention was to provide first-class treatment to Akka [Jayalalithaa].”

She said Apollo Hospital is no ordinary hospital which will carry out treatment based on her directions and added they decided to take Jayalalithaa to that hospital as they had carried out previous tests on her and the doctors there knew about her condition.

Noting that she was never against taking the late AIADMK leader abroad for treatment, Sasikala said, “We took her there [Apollo] as it is one of largest hospitals in Asia and doctors who had received world-class recognition were working there. It was the decision of the doctors including those from AIIMS that Amma did not require an angiogram during that period. People will not accept the observations of the Commission that were made out of assumptions. I refute all the allegations made against me. I am ready to face any probe,” she said.

The Arumughsamy Commission was constituted to inquire into the circumstances and situation leading to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016, and subsequent treatment provided to her till her demise on December 5, 2016.

The DMK in its poll manifesto ahead of the 2021 Assembly election had said that if elected they will probe Jayalalithaa’s death and take appropriate action against the offenders.