Jayalalitha - ika leru

[Prabhas_Fan]

25 minutes ago, Kool_SRG said:

Appollo came out with Press release treatment going ani...News was false.

Mari anni news channels appude RIP ani start chesay

[Kontekurradu]

37 minutes ago, Prabhas_Fan said:

Mari anni news channels appude RIP ani start chesay

Amma ni munde sampesava 

[Prabhas_Fan]

Just now, Kontekurradu said:

Amma ni munde sampesava 

Nenu kaadu bhayyo news channels

[Kontekurradu]

11 minutes ago, Prabhas_Fan said:

Nenu kaadu bhayyo news channels

vallu sampesthe, nuuvu iikada amma ki dhana smaskaralu kuda sesesav ga 

[johnubhai_01]

responding to the treatment anta..   okkosari okko mukka telling.

[nandananditha]

1 minute ago, johnubhai_01 said:

responding to the treatment anta..   okkosari okko mukka telling.

yendhi vayya e lolli manake siraku dobuthunadhi ante , inka fans ye range lo frustrate avuthunaro , asalu intha hadavidi yendho , ruling lo unadhi valle , violence enduku create sestaru

[Kool_SRG]

15 minutes ago, nandananditha said:

yendhi vayya e lolli manake siraku dobuthunadhi ante , inka fans ye range lo frustrate avuthunaro , asalu intha hadavidi yendho , ruling lo unadhi valle , violence enduku create sestaru

Akkada anta saami MGR 1987 lo poyadu ilage was in hospital for aroun 2-3 months even flown to US for treatment, chanipoyadu ani telisina taravata penta penta ayyindi...Around 20-30 days law and order was out of control ento veela too much ati.

[NinduChandurudu]

3 minutes ago, Kool_SRG said:

Akkada anta saami MGR 1987 lo poyadu ilage was in hospital for aroun 2-3 months even flown to US for treatment, chanipoyadu ani telisina taravata penta penta ayyindi...Around 20-30 law and order was out of control ento veela too much ati.

Tamil Nadu: An uncertain future

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran's sudden illness led to a massive emotional upsurge in the state, but also threw its politics into turmoil. The medical drama was matched by the political maneuvering behind the scenes.

 

T.N. Ninan and S.H. Venkatramani

 

November 15, 1984 | UPDATED 12:06 IST

A +A -

 

 

It was shortly after midnight, and the lobby of the year-old Apollo Hospital in central Madras was virtually deserted. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the urgent throb of motorcycle engines racing up the driveway, escorting a pilot jeep and a blue Ambassador.

Tyres squealed to a halt, and out stepped the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.G. Ramachandran, accompanied by his wife Janaki and personal physician, B.R. Subramaniam. MGR was gasping desperately for breath, his chest heaving as it strained to gulp in air. But even as the hospital was galvanised into sudden frenetic activity, the chief minister was frantically repeating just one instruction in Tamil: "Don't tell anyone I am here, don't let anyone know that I have been brought to hospital."

Somebody said that the sight of the chief minister's convoy of vehicles would-tell its own tale, so MGR promptly ordered the vehicles to be sent away. Apollo Hospital Chairman, Prathap C. Reddy, warned in advance about the chief minister's arrival, quickly rushed MGR to a Rs 525-a-day "super-deluxe" suite on the hospital's third floor, equipped among other things with a refrigerator and TV set.

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But MGR was now in no state to notice any creature comforts. He had turned blue for lack of oxygen and his doctors said later that if his admission to the hospital had been delayed by even a few minutes, his life would have been beyond saving.

For the next five hours, Reddy and other doctors on the staff of the privately-managed luxury hospital struggled to get the chief minister to breathe normally again. And dawn was close at hand when MGR was able to speak at last. An obviously grateful MGR asked Reddy: "Do you do this for all your patients?"

In many ways, MGR had brought his medical crisis on his own head by refusing to heed medical advice, ignoring the danger signs that pointed to kidney failure, and indeed striving to keep his health problems a strict secret unknown to even his cabinet colleagues.

 

M.G. Ramachandran: Critical time

Over the next two weeks, the matinee idol-turned-politician's health went through several ups and downs. He came off the critical list every few days, only for a fresh setback or complication to cause his doctors still more moments of anxiety.

 

A diabetic for many years, MGR's kidneys had packed up, causing an accumulation of fluid in his body. This in turn put an extra workload on the chief minister's heart, resulting in cardiac asthma. As a downstream effect, fluid accumulated in the lung: pulmonary oedema, which was the reason for the breathlessness.

Later, the chief minister suffered from cerebral thrombosis, causing a stroke that paralysed the right side of his body and reduced him for some days into a semi-comatose state. In between, he underwent frequent dialysis and computer scans of the brain, contracted an infection that sent his temperature rising, and suffered breathlessness again, while the swelling in the brain caused by the blood clot showed little sign of reducing from the size of a "tennis ball".

On at least one I occasion, his doctors had to I stay up and work on him all night, forcibly pumping oxygen into his system in order to keep him breathing. It was an enormous amount of battering for a body that was 67 years old by official reckoning (over 70, unofficially), but 16 days after the first midnight drama, the doctors finally began to look cheerful. The patient looked as if he was finally pulling through.

It was a state of affairs that had not just the doctors, but the state Government, 50 million Tamilians and yet more millions outside the state on tenterhooks. Experts were flown in from the United States and Japan to look at the patient, special planes were made to stand by on three occasions in case MGR had to be flown abroad for surgery, and the prime minister paid a quick visit.

Fanatical followers of the durable matinee idol burnt themselves to death (13, according to one count) or slashed themselves with razor-blades in a frenzy of self-flagellation. Hundreds of telegrams poured in daily, with prayers, offers of kidneys, and in some cases threats of dire consequences if the doctors did not rescue their "God". One telegram told the Apollo doctors that the sender would not eat till they told him that MGR was safe. Another, from a doctor, offered his brain to the chief minister.

Crowds from a slum next to the hospital kept up a round-the-clock vigil from tree-tops overlooking the hospital entrance. The police hurriedly erected wooden barricades at the head of the hospital's approach road, 200 yards away, to keep the crowds at bay. But the hospital itself was swarming with state ministers, parliamentarians and legislators, journalists and political hangers-on.

Jayalajitha: Out in the cold MGR as hero: Idol of the masses   MGR as hero: Idol of the masses

A visitors' book in the lobby had its pages quickly filled with the signatures of anxious well-wishers. Women, in sarees adorned in red, white and black, the colours of MGR's political party, the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), brought prasad from temples across the state. And in virtually every place of worship, the devout offered prayers and supplications for the VIP patient's speedy recovery.

It was a scale of mass idolatry never before witnessed in the country. On the roads of Madras and other towns in the districts, small processions of men. women and children trekked for up to 30 km to a favoured temple or church. Posters went up on walls and in buses, praying for MGR's recovery.

Frequently, unconfirmed rumours spread like wildfire amid fears that the doctors were not revealing the whole truth. On at least two occasions, the crowds threatened to get violent as word spread that MGR was dead. And the doctor's unspoken fear was that if the patient failed to survive, the hospital would almost certainly become the focus of an enraged mob's anguished fury.

As the chief minister struggled for his life, the world outside was thrown into confusion and suspense. As cabinet ministers made Apollo their headquarters, the state's administration virtually ground to a halt. In the immediate aftermath of MGR's illness, AIADMK politicians were even seen weeping unashamedly in the hospital.

But this was quickly followed by a discreet struggle for the succession as senior members of the state Cabinet realised that the chief minister would be out of action for some weeks, if not months. Even more important, however, the parliamentary and state assembly elections loomed ahead.

Would the enormous state-wide wave of sympathy for a seriously ill hero be converted into votes for the proposed AIADMK-Congress(I) combine? Or would MGR's recovery prove too slow for him to wage a campaign effectively and to hold office, so that what is essentially a one-man party collapses like a house of cards?

With the medical picture still unclear, there were no immediate answers to these questions. But with Tamil Nadu's 39 Lok Sabha seats hanging in the balance at a time when Mrs Gandhi needed desperately to count on at least one of the southern states as being "safe", MGR's illness acquired a national, political significance that quickly made him a vital factor in the election calculus.

Sivaji Ganesan, the veteran of 250 films who is also the chairman of the Congress(I)'s campaign committee in the state, realised this quickly enough, and telephoned New Delhi three days after MGR suffered his crippling stroke.

Said Sivaji: "I rang up Dhawan in Delhi and told him Madam should come. Dhawan said she would come a little later, but I said she must come immediately. And she came that day itself." Not only did Mrs Gandhi come visiting, she also said that a special plane would stand by in case MGR had to be flown abroad for surgery. These gestures to a Tamil hero won her instant goodwill in a state which has traditionally voted for personalities rather than party platforms - Kamaraj, Annadurai, Karunanidhi and MGR himself.

V.R. Nedunchezhiyan V.R. Nedunchezhiyan took charge as the de facto chief minister, but R.M. Veerappan is the party strongman who has the backing of the MGR fan clubs.

For close to a decade, the matinee idol-turned-politician has monopolised the floodlights as only a man who has straddled Tamil Nadu's intertwined worlds of cinema and politics can.

As a hero of scores of films, many of them with a political message, his name was a household word even 20 years ago. And his well-known acts of personal charity - distributing food and clothes to the poor - had then earned him a special affection bordering on worship.

If he merely sipped a glass of orange juice offered to him at a public meeting, the rest of the liquid would be diluted in buckets of water, which would then be passed around for his fans to drink as theertham (or holy water). Slumlords in the industrial town of Coimbatore used to pull down giant film hoardings of MGR and hire them to slum women to sleep on at night.

Last fortnight's political crisis was the direct result of the AIADMK's complete dependence on this astonishing MGR cult for its survival. To the extent that MGR was the party and vice versa, the prospect of facing an election without a politically active MGR threw the AIADMK's largely faceless second rung of leaders into a state of uncertainty and depression.

Devoid of any strong political ideology, and almost hamstrung by the record of an administration generally recognised as flabby and unexciting, the party suddenly seemed in danger of losing its raison d'etre. For MGR had carried personality-oriented politics to its ultimate degree, keeping his party under control by making it almost completely dependent on him for its votes.

Almost inevitably, then, the prospect of a politically incapacitated chief minister led to immediate factional tussles within the AIADMK. And the first casualty was the one person whom MGR had seemed to be grooming as his political successor: his leading lady in over two dozen films, Jayalalitha.

For close to two years, MGR had risked antagonising virtually every leader in his party by pushing Jayalalitha to the forefront, making her the party's propaganda secretary and then giving her a ticket to the Rajya Sabha. Orders were issued that cabinet ministers must stand up when she arrived to address a public function - which had the immediate result of ministers becoming reluctant to share any public platform with her.

And revenue minister S.D. Somasundaram's exit from the party in September had more than a little to do with the emergence of Jayalalitha as a major political factor. But with MGR ill and incapacitated,the party bosses lost no time in getting their own back. When Jayalalitha visited the hospital to call on MGR, she was denied access to his suite. She was given no say in any of the consultations on his treatment.

And when, in a desperate effort to stay in the limelight, she issued a statement in the name of the party saying that the doctors had called in Japanese specialists to take a look at the chief minister, the party general secretary P.U. Shanmugham denied that the statement had been issued by the party office.

Shanmugham told India Today: "I have not issued her a show cause notice for this. But that does not mean that I approve of the press release issued by the MP." And though he refrained from comment despite repeated questions about her future in the party, there was no mistaking the gleam of revenge in his eye.

R.M. Veerappan M. Karunanidhi The DMK's M. Karunanidhi positioned himself well for the coming elections, while the AIADMK rebel, S.D. Somasundaram, could be a key factor in three or four districts.

There was some speculation as to whether MGR's 15,000 manrams (fan clubs) and their 18 lakh members (constituting the backbone of the party machinery) would stand by her. But a prominent leader of the grandiosely-styled All-World MGR Manrams Association put this to rest very quickly when he referred to Jayalalitha in terms that bordered on abuse, and said the fan clubs blamed her for MGR's health problems.

Jayalalitha herself was not available for comment, claiming first that she had no time for a week, and later reporting sick herself. With virtually every politician of note in the state writing off her political future, her isolation seemed complete.

Meanwhile, a more crucial power struggle surfaced in the state cabinet as key ministers jockeyed into position for a succession battle. Three days after the chief minister suffered his crippling stroke, V.R. Nedunchezhiyan, finance minister and the No. 2 man in the cabinet, met Governor S.L. Khurana privately at Raj Bhavan.

The cabinet met two days later amid speculation that Nedunchezhiyan, a political lightweight despite his seniority and experience, had staked his claim to being appointed acting chief minister. At the cabinet meeting itself. Chief Secretary K. Chokalingam was asked to leave midway through.

But the vital political discussion that followed seemed to have led to a stalemate, because the only decision of note was that Nedunchezhiyan would look after the chief minister's files for the time being. This was on the strength of Nedunchezhlyan's word that MGR had orally instructed him along these lines before he suffered his stroke.

But political rivals privately questioned this on two grounds: one, the chief minister was reported to have attended to some files before he suffered his stroke, and would logically have issued written instructions regarding the re-allocation of work if he had felt the need for this.

Second, Governor Khurana had called on MGR in hospital the day that he is supposed to have orally instructed Nedunchezhiyan, but MGR did not mention the subject to Khurana. But Nedunchezhiyan was quick to counter categorically: "MGR orally instructed me in hospital before he suffered the stroke."

Khurana was meanwhile faced with a ticklish constitutional problem. The governor is supposed to act on the advice of the "council of ministers, headed by the chief minister". But with the chief minister out of action, could the cabinet give the govern or advice that was constitutionally valid?

Indeed, could the cabinet meet at all? And what should the course of action be if the chief minister remained unable to communicate for weeks on end because of his loss of speech and partial paralysis?

Khurana ruefully confessed: "The Constitution is silent on all these issues. And I am taking legal advice on what to do." He called in the state Advocate-General, R. Krishnamurthy, and initially worked out a delicate compromise that came close to cutting constitutional corners.

The cabinet would not meet, but the ministers would sit together informally to sort out files needing interministerial coordination. No major policy decisions would be taken. And the chief minister's advice would be sought as soon as he was in a position to clearly give it.

But towards the month-end, Nedunchezhiyan emerged as the de facto chief minister, signalling a temporary victory for him. Khurana issued a formal notification assigning the chief minister's portfolios to Nedunchezhiyan during the period of the chief minister's treatment, and said Nedunchezhiyan would also convene and preside over cabinet meetings in MGR's absence.

Right on cue, DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, criticised the "undue haste shown by the governor in allocating all the chief minister's portfolios to the finance minister". These decisions followed official communications that Khurana received on October 20 and 21 from Nedunchezhiyan, from the chief secretary and from the private secretary to the chief minister, all stating that MGR had orally instructed Nedunchezhiyan to look after his portfolios. And the advocate-general told the governor that the chief minister's oral instructions amounted to "advice" under the Constitution.

If that signalled the first phase of the leadership struggle in the party. Nedunchezhiyan sought to consolidate his position by immediately rushing to New Delhi for political consultations with Mrs Gandhi on holding the assembly elections (due only in June) simultaneously with the Lok Sabha poll, and on continuing the AIADMK-Congress(I) poll alliance.

Nedunchezhiyan told newsmen in Delhi that even these actions of his were based on MGR's oral instructions a day before he suffered his stroke. How These moves will be viewed by other leaders in the party remains to be seen. Nedunchezhiyan, despite his standing and seniority, is not a party heayweight.

He was the ranking minister in C.M. Annadurai's cabinet during 1967-69, but after Annadurai's death he was beaten in the succession struggle by M. Karunanidhi even though Nedunchezhiyan had been appointed acting chief minister during the final weeks of Annadurai's struggle against cancer.

In case MGR is now unable to return to active politics, will history repeat itself and Nedunchezhiyan be pipped at the post again? The AIADMK is not without ambitious politicians, including the Assembly Speaker K. Rajaram and Industry Minister C. Ponnaiyan. But the party strongman is R.M. Veerappan, the minister for information and religious endowments, who has been MGR's trusted aide for many years.

Their relationship goes back to MGR's film career, for Veerappan was the production manager for a number of MGR's films and has handled his finances as well. He has also been a key figure in the party as a patron of the chief minister's fan clubs, and a spokesman of the All-World MGR Manrams Association said that fully half the party's 130 MLA's were "patrons" of the fan clubs, and that all of them would back Veerappan in a leadership struggle.

But Veerappan is also known to be lukewarm about the AIADMK's political alliance with the Congress(I). And in a situation where a confused parry wonders which way to turn while its leader lies seriously ill, Mrs Gandhi might well want to call the shots within the AIADMK so that its alliance with the Congress(I) continues.

For the Congress(I) an alliance with one of the

[nandananditha]

7 minutes ago, Kool_SRG said:

Akkada anta saami MGR 1987 lo poyadu ilage was in hospital for aroun 2-3 months even flown to US for treatment, chanipoyadu ani telisina taravata penta penta ayyindi...Around 20-30 law and order was out of control ento veela too much ati.

pichi peons gallu, slow foison la janaloki news ni sending emo 

[NinduChandurudu]

ippude chepparu..midnight cheptaru

[johnubhai_01]

10 minutes ago, NinduChandurudu said:

ippude chepparu..midnight cheptaru

midnight em chepthar!!.. repu chepthamani chepthar.. 

[Prabhas_Fan]

23 minutes ago, johnubhai_01 said:

midnight em chepthar!!.. repu chepthamani chepthar.. 

nee avva aadukuntunnaru kada vayya normal people tho

[johnubhai_01]

Just now, Prabhas_Fan said:

nee avva aadukuntunnaru kada vayya normal people tho

mee peddollantha inthe vayya 

[Prabhas_Fan]

4 minutes ago, johnubhai_01 said:

mee peddollantha inthe vayya 

nenu @4Vikram kante foorer foorerest bhayya

[johnubhai_01]

3 minutes ago, Prabhas_Fan said:

nenu @4Vikram kante foorer foorerest bhayya