Jaya well, reading papers, claims AIADMK

Party spokesperson CR Saraswathi was quoted by as television channel as saying Jayalalithaa gave verbal consent to her eight portfolios being assigned to the state’s Finance Minister O Panneerselvam while she recovers in hospital.

She said that according to the doctors the chief minister was “reading newspapers and recovering fast.” On the allocation of portfolios Saraswathi said, “A message was sent to Jayalalithaa about giving portfolios to O Panneerselvam, she said ‘yes’. She’s not unconscious.” She also said that “everybody can’t go inside (her room) due to infection. Only doctors go.”

In a rebuttal to opposition parties who asked how Jayalalithaa had advised the state’s Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to assign her portfolios or departments to Panneerselvam, who has stood in for Jayalalithaa twice before when she stepped down as chief minister over corruption cases against her, Saraswathi said, “Without the Chief Minister’s knowledge, nothing happens in AIADMK.”

Chief Minister’s arch-rival DMK patriarch K Karunanidhi had questioned why no leaders visiting the hospital have been allowed to meet the chief minister. A DMK activist had moved the High Court seeking a directive to the state government to share information, but the plea was rejected on the ground the petitioner was seeking publicity.