Chennai: Maintaining that he did not meet late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa during her 75-day stay at Apollo Hospitals last year, Tourism minister Vellamandi Natarajan on Sunday said he was ready to depose before the one-man inquiry commission set up to probe her demise.
“I did not see Amma (Jayalalithaa) when she was in the Apollo Hospital. We could go only up to the second floor of the hospital. After that no one was allowed (into her room),” he told reporters in Pudukottai. “I will tell this truth to the commission, if they summon me and ask me. In fact all the ministers are ready to depose before the commission,” Natarajan said.
His comments assume significance as it comes close on the heels of contradicting statements by ministers on Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation. While Forest minister Dindigul C. Sreenivasan and others said they were not allowed to meet Jayalalithaa, Cooperatives minister Sellur K. Raju had contradicted them saying he was allowed to meet the then Chief Minister.
