TTV Dinakaran Faction Releases Video Of Jayalalithaa In Hospital A Day Before RK Nagar Bypoll

A video of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, recorded while she was at Chennai’s Apollo Hospital, has surfaced on social media a day before a by-election in the RK Nagar seat that fell vacant after the leader’s death. In the video, Jayalalithaa is seen drinking from a glass while reportedly watching television.

While Jayalalithaa's death is being investigated by a judicial commission, the release of the video a day ahead of the bypoll can be seen as an attempt by the TTV Dinakaran camp to clear the air over the leader’s ‘untimely’ death.

"Many have been asking how the video was shot. This was taken after she was moved from the ICU by VK Sasikala. I have released this video without consulting TTV Dinakaran or Sasikala. The merged AIADMK faction has been raising questions over Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation, and I wanted to put an end to all conspiracy theories," said P Vetrivel, a close aide of Dinakaran and one of the disqualified MLAs supporting V K Sasikala faction, who released the video of the former Chief Minister.

The by-election to the R K Nagar constituency will be a close contest between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) candidate E Madhusudhanan and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate Marudhi Ganesh.

According to an opinion survey carried out by Tamil television channel Thanthi TV, the contest is too close to call with Madhusudhanan enjoying a one-percentage-point edge over DMK candidate Ganesh.

The survey showed that Madhusudhanan could garner 36 per cent of the votes, while DMK’s candidate, Ganesh, may get 35 per cent of the votes. T T V Dinakaran, the Sasikala faction AIADMK leader, could get 25 per cent of the votes, while the rest, including the BJP, will have to be satisfied with 3 per cent votes.

Also Read: Battleground R K Nagar: Tamil Nadu’s Future Hinges On This Crucial By-Election