Jayalalithaa's health declined fast after imprisonment in DA case: report

Chennai: Late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s health was not a matter of concern in the state until her imprisonment in September 2014 in a disproportionate assets case.

According to a report in the Indian Express, Jayalalithaa’s health declined rapidly after her release from jail in Karnataka. She fiercely guarded her private life, so no one really had an idea of how ill she was.

But after her release from jail, Jayalalithaa’s political opponents noticed something amiss and began to target her. “She kept herself away from key responsibilities after being sworn in as Chief Minister. Trusted aides, including former Chief Secretary Sheela Balakrishnan, ran the show,” a senior IAS officer was quoted as saying.

A senior police officer, who served in her security team, said that after the last election, while on a trip to Fort St George, the CM demanded to return home, as she was feeling dizzy and in pain. It took her another four hours that day to leave home again for office.

After her health declined in 2015, changes were made to her security protocol, said the report. Before her conviction in the assets case, there used to be a 2-feet gap between the Chief Minister and her security personnel. That gap was reduced to one feet after her imprisonment so that she could be helped if need be. In the last two years, she found it difficult to stand for a long period of time. She used elevators to reach the stage during public rallies, and sat while giving speeches.

The report quotes a former state minister as saying that during her imprisonment in 2014, Jayalalithaa also refused to meet doctors and refused to share her medical prescriptions until some senior leaders and bureaucrats persuaded her.

“When she emerged from prison, Amma was different. Neither the bail nor the acquittal made her happy,” he said.

Jayalalithaa’s last public appearance was on September 20, 2016, two days before she was admitted to Apollo Hospitals. Jayalalithaa, on that day, joined Union Ministers Venkaiah and Pon Radhakrishnan via video conference from her office to participate in a ceremony for the launch of a new line at the Chennai airport metro station. This despite the fact that she was in Chennai itself at the time.

The report adds, quoting an official, that Jayalalithaa was already ill by this time, and had to be brought to the office in a wheelchair. She was admitted to Apollo 2 days later and would never leave the hospital until her death on December 5.