Don’t interfere with gold owned by Indians, Jaya wrote to Modi: report

Chennai: Two days before she suffered a cardiac arrest at a Chennai hospital, late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa wrote a note for Prime Minister Narendra Modi advising him not to interfere with the amount of gold owned by Indians as it was a "matter of sentiment".

According to a report in Firstpost, Jayalalithaa scribbled the short note on December 2 with some difficulty. The note was addressed to Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao and was meant to be forwarded to Modi’s representative in the state.

It was later shown to Tamil Nadu in-charge Governor Vidyasagar Rao, perhaps with an intention that the message will be conveyed by the Centre's representative in Tamil Nadu to the Prime Minister, said the report.

The report claims this as proof that Jayalalithaa was fully aware of what was happening around her, especially the chaos caused by demonetisation, just three days before she died.

On the evening of December 4, sometime between 4.30 pm and 5 pm, Jayalalithaa was watching TV in her room when she suffered a cardiac arrest. She never recovered from this and was declared dead at 11:30 pm the next day at Apollo Hospitals.

The report also adds that every single decision from then on, on what and how to do next, was taken with Sasikala's concurrence. No one had any problems receiving instructions from Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s confidante for nearly 30 years.

The report states that it was Sasikala who took the decision that Jayalalithaa's resting place will be next to the MGR Memorial on Marina Beach.

Meanwhile, Governor Rao was keeping Modi informed directly about the developments at Apollo Hospitals. Modi and Rao interacted via telephone several times, said the report.

The Prime Minister was keen that the Governor ensures there was no breakdown of law and order situation, and asked him to take charge till the new government was in control.

On December 5, it was decided around 4 pm that Jayalalithaa's demise will be announced at 7 pm, according to the Firstpost report, which added that the AIADMK top brass panicked when a Tamil news channel broadcasted her death at 5:30 pm.

Fearing that the emotional AIADMK cadre would take matters into their own hands, it was then decided that the announcement of Jayalalithaa’s death would be made close to midnight, by which time the crowds would have thinned.

Earlier, another report had said that Jayalalithaa had died in the Critical Care Unit at 2 pm itself.

Apollo Hospitals, however, denies that it put out any wrong information under pressure from the political dispensation, claiming that the end came only at 11:30 pm.