Oneindia: Tamil Nadu: Tuesday, September 26, 2017.
A reply from
the Tamil Nadu government under Right to Information act contradicts claims
made by Forest Minister C Sreenivasan on Jayalalithaa's time in Apollo Hospital
last year. While the minister claimed that the party, as well as the
government, lied about Jayalalithaa's condition, the RTI reply claims that the
then Chief Minister had met officials and oversaw meetings on Cauvery issue.
Who really is lying to the people of Tamil Nadu has now become the big
question.
On Friday,
Tamil Nadu minister Sreenivasan made startling claims about how none ever met
Jayalalithaa in the hospital but lied about her improving health, consumption
of food and interaction with officials. An RTI query acquired by a
Bengaluru-based activist dated June 2017 contradicts the minister's statements.
Even as the
debate over the truth about Jayalalithaa in Apollo rages on TTV Dinakaran on
Monday claimed that videos of the late Chief Minister in the hospital have been
recorded. "We have videos of Jayalalithaa watching TV in the hospital. We
are willing to hand it over to the probe committee. Let a senior judge lead the
investigations," TTV Dinakaran said. He added that Jayalalithaa was
dressed informally and hence the video was not fit to be made public.
A letter of
reply from Joint Secretary to Tamil Nadu government, P M Ambalavanan, dated
June 16, 2017, details meetings that Jayalalithaa is said to have held with
officials. "The late Chief Minister interacted with family and government
officials on some important issues including the Cauvery issue. The late Chief
Minister's clinical course deteriorated later and subsequently recovered
substantially to being able to take food orally," the reply to an RTI
query states.
This is in
sheer contradiction to Sreenivasan's claims that nobody was allowed to meet J
Jayalalithaa when she was at the Apollo hospital. He had alleged that the
government, as well as the party, had lied about her health status and
apologized to the people for lying.
The
contradiction makes it clear that either the government of Tamil Nadu had lied
in the RTI query or the minister was lying to the public. With many unanswered
questions already raising suspicion over Jayalalithaa's death, the latest
revelation from Sreenivasan only fuelled further speculation.
The reply to
the RTI query also states that Jayalalithaa's recorded time of death was 11.30
PM. This is yet again a contradiction to O Panneerselvam's claim of
Jayalalithaa passing away on the evening of December 5.
"No
information, unless specified otherwise, can be denied under the RTI. If there
is a delay in providing information under the RTI, a maximum penalty of Rs
20,000 can be imposed on the Public information officer. The same will apply to
false information," said activist Narasimhamurthy. An advocate, Murthy had
sought information regarding Jayalalithaa's health condition, medical expenses,
the cost to the ex-chequer and details of doctors who treated her. He received
a reply in June where information about her health was denied since the matter
was 'private'.