# Opinion

How Sasikala’s gang took over

Arati R Jerath | December 14, 2016 3:37 am

Jayalalitha’s long time companion Sasikala Natarajan had rounded up her entire family to stand guard around the late Tamil Nadu chief minister’s body as it lay in state at Chennai’s Rajaji Hall. As many as 18 young men with assorted relationships to Sasikala were seen standing in strategic positions, almost like bouncers on a film set. Their job was to protect Sasikala from possible attack by
disgruntled and angry AIADMK supporters. Sasikala did not want a repetition of the humiliation to which Jaya was subjected when AIADMK founder and iconic chief minister M G Ramachandran died in 1987. At that time, Jaya was pinched, poked and molested by irate supporters of MGR’s wife Janaki. They wanted to stop her from appropriating MGR’s legacy and tried to dislodge her from the position she had assumed next to his body as his heir apparent. The last straw was when Janaki’s nephew physically pushed her off the truck that was taking MGR’s body to his last resting place on Marina Beach. It is to Jaya’s credit that she stood her ground and endured the physical pain and emotional insults heaped on her just to stay by her mentor’s side. It was quite a different scenario this time. Surrounded by her “bodyguards”, Sasikala reigned supreme as she occupied that valuable position next to the late chief minister’s body. Mourners filed past Jaya’s body and also paid their respects to Chinamma as Sasikala is known. Time will tell whether
she succeeds in donning Jaya’s mantle and taking over the AIADMK.
Gadkari to rescue
Many in the BJP believe that Nitin Gadkari rescued the Modi
government from a potentially volatile situation the morning after the Prime Minister announced the demonetisation policy. In the confusion that prevailed after the PM’s announcement, truck movement ground to a halt as vehicles started piling up at toll tax booths on national highways across the country. When Gadkari held a morning review meeting the day after, he was startled to learn that there were mile long queues of trucks everywhere blocking the highways. Unlike other ministers who wait for orders from the PMO to take decisions, Gadkari functions quite independently. He took a suo moto decision to waive toll tax on all highways till December 2 so that trucks could move freely. It was a bold decision and has cost the exchequer an estimated sum of Rs.1,680 crore in toll losses. But the highways were cleared quickly. Not only did this facilitate movement of goods, it also defused the threat of violence by impatient truck drivers. While Gadkari has the reputation of a doer, BJP circles believe that his proximity to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat allows him a degree of independence that other ministers lack. They say Modi handles him with kid gloves because of this.
Stormy meet
The last parliamentary party meeting of the BJP was somewhat stormy with Narendra Modi ticking off his MPs in blunt language. Although MPs sat quietly with
sullen looks on their faces, Modi appeared annoyed and irritated, according to reports filtering out from the meeting. He told the MPs that he was aware of their silent opposition to demonetisation. He also told them that he knew that BJP MPs had large amounts of black money which they had laundered. He then hinted at severe punishment if this continued. It was overall an unpleasant meeting. MPs filed out unsure of what to make of the PM’s tough talk.
Troubleshooter Naidu
Political circles are surprised by the emergence of union information and broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu as Modi’s chief interlocutor with AIADMK. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was known to enjoy a good rapport with Jayalalitha, not Naidu. So why did Modi choose Naidu over Prasad? A major reason, of course, is that Naidu has become an important troubleshooter for the PM over the past couple of years. The other reason is that Naidu is an experienced
Chennai hand. His daughter and son-in-law live there and between them, they have vast business interests in the Tamil Nadu capital. Over the years, Naidu has
been a frequent visitor to Chennai and is believed to established a good network of contacts with political leaders and bureaucrats. The fact that he speaks Tamil is an
additional qualification. Interestingly, the Tamil Nadu governor is a man believed to be close to Naidu. Vidya Sagar Rao also hails from Andhra Pradesh. It is significant that although Rao is governor of Maharashtra, he was given additional charge of Tamil Nadu despite the fact that the states are quite far from each other. Modi
was obviously thinking ahead when he took that decision. Naidu and Rao have been in close touch through Jaya’s health crisis. Rao is believed to have tipped off the centre about her deteriorating health well before the official hospital announcement of her cardiac arrest. Consequently, Naidu was the first to teach Chennai and took matters in hand to ensure a smooth transition after Jaya was finally declared dead. 

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