Dhinakaran camp releases clip of Jayalalithaa in hospital bed

Chennai: A day ahead of the RK Nagar by-poll here, the AIADMK’s rival T T V Dhinakaran faction today released a video purportedly showing late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a hospital here.

The footage of about 20 seconds, aired by TV channels, showed the AIADMK supremo in a nightdress, looking frail and sipping what appeared to be a health drink with the help of a straw.

A year after Jayalalithaa’s death, the clip released by the Dhinkaran camp and made available to the media showed her in a reclining position in a corporate hospital bed.

The chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu, Rajesh Lakhoni, told reporters here that that television channels had been asked to immediately stop airing the clip.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospital here on September 22 last year after she complained of fever and dehydration.

She died on December 5 that year after 75 days in the hospital. There was no immediate response from Apollo Hospital to a query on the veracity of the video.

The video showed her sipping the drink with a straw from a use-and-throw glass topped with a lid. On her bedside was the portrait of a deity.

However, the date and time of the footage is not known. Lakhoni said telecasting or displaying any election- related material 48 hours before the poll to the day of election was barred under election laws.

Ruling AIADMK sources refused to comment on the video. Jayalalithaa represented the RK Nagar constituency.