Post-Jayalalithaa political churning: News, views and scoops minus sensationalism

Chennai: The charismatic leader J. Jayalalithaa was in the ICU of Apollo Hospital and her arch-rival M. Karunanidhi too faded away from active politics as a result of age-related illness and suddenly there was a virtual vacuum in the political bellwether of Tamil Nadu, one of the first states to have overthrown the then mighty Congress.

The political vacuum gave enough fodder for journalists in newsrooms of every newspaper and television channels and the swanky newsroom at Deccan Chronicle was no different. DC’s news bureau tried its best to keep the reader updated with the latest information on Jayalalithaa’s health condition and why Karunanidhi was not able to pen his quintessential letter to his ‘udanpirapu’(brethren).

Though Apollo Hospital disseminated very little information about the health of the chief minister, we at Deccan Chronicle did not speculate on what could be her condition day to day, but gave out every piece of news that we had our hands on, only after checking its authenticity.

And on December 4, a relatively calm and cool Sunday, alarm bells began to ring after news started spreading that Jayalalithaa had suffered cardiac arrest and was moved back to the ICU, from where she had been shifted to a normal room just 10 days before then. All hell broke loose and we delayed the edition to ensure that our esteemed readers got the latest news. And this time, the hospital was transparent enough and we could give our reader the real condition of the Chief Minister.

After her passing away on December 5, Deccan Chronicle began focusing more on the political crisis that followed eventually and kept our readers abreast with authentic information on who would succeed late Jayalalithaa as the AIADMK General Secretary since the question of Chief Minister was settled.

The analysis of every move in the AIADMK began on December 10 and continues till date. While every other rival publication was merely saying that Stalin would take over the party, Deccan Chronicle was precise in even mentioning the designation he would land in–working president on December 10.
And we were the first newspaper to report on December 29 morning that V.K. Sasikala will be appointed (not elected) as the General Secretary of the AIADMK since the by-laws of the party don’t allow election of a member who has not been with the party for at least five years.

It did not end there. On January 4, when Stalin was elected as the Working President of the DMK, Deccan Chronicle reported how the workaholic leader had waited patiently for his ageing father to pave way for him to take control of the Dravidian party.

On February 5, Deccan Chronicle was the only newspaper to report that a resolution to elect Sasikala as the general secretary of the AIADMK will be moved at the meeting of legislators later that evening and we got it bang on. And on February 7, again Deccan Chronicle set the agenda as it does in every political crisis. Our front-page lead screamed Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao would not swear-in Sasikala till the Supreme Court disposes of the disproportionate assets case and a week later, both Rao and DC were vindicated.

And our breaking the news streak did not end there. On February 15, when the world was reading details of Sasikala’s conviction in disproportionate assets case, Deccan Chronicle had an exclusive: Sasikala to anoint her nephew TTV Dhinakaran as the next General Secretary of the AIADMK. Before she left to Bengaluru to surrender before a court, she appointed Dhinakaran as the deputy general secretary, de facto No 1 of the AIADMK.