At a time when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa looked absolutely unassailable, the rumours over her allegedly failing health is a gift that the splintered opposition has been waiting for. The single most important point of discussion currently in Tamil Nadu is if Jaya is ill or not.
Seizing the opportunity, the man who fired the first salvo was DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. A week ago, the 92 year old former chief minister said that “the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has no work because she is not in good health. That is why the state is being run like one without a CM.” His statement came when Jaya had to cancel at the last minute an Iftar party that she had arranged, saying that she was unwell. Karuna was acerbic when he added, "you please take rest and take care of your health. A chief minister of state should be transparent.”
Other leaders, however, refrained from making direct statements on Jaya’s health, even as they continued to be critical of the AIADMK government. Without alluding to her rumoured ill-health, the BJP state president Taimilisai Soundarajan reportedly said that “it is painful to note that even after Chief Minister (Jayalalithaa) took over after a gap of one year there has not been any progressive development in the State”.