After an uncertainty-filled 75 days in
hospital, and a tense final 24 hours, chief minister J jayalalitha
tamilnadu , Amma to millions of Tamils and godmother to legions of
aidmk cadres, was declared dead close to midnight of Monday by apollo
hospital . She was 68.
A popular and prolific filmstar,
Jayalalithaa+
went on to become a four-term and six-time chief minister — she had to step down in 2001 and 2014 following
court judgments+
in corruption-related cases, but was subsequently acquitted and
re-instated. She is only the second CM in almost 30 years, besides
J&K's Mufti, to die of natural causes while still in office.
"It is with indescribable grief we announce the sad demise of our
esteemed honourable chief minister of Tamil Nadu Puratchithalavi Amma at
11.30pm today," a midnight statement from the hospital said. The state
has announced seven days' mourning.
Even as a convoy was standing by at the hospital
gates to take Jayalalithaa's body to her poes garden residence Veda
Nilayam, AIADMK legislators met at the party headquarters to elect
finance minister
O Panneerselvam as the successor
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Jayalalithaa was taken to Apollo Hospitals on September 22 after she
collapsed of respiratory distress at her Poes Garden residence late that
evening. Initial reports from the hospital said she was brought in with
fever and dehydration, and doctors soon diagnosed sepsis, a
life-threatening infection that spreads in the blood, as the underlying
reason. Intensive treatment provided by a team of experts succeeded in
reviving her to an extent.
Just when it appeared that she had overcome the worst,
she suffered a cardiac arrest around 4pm on Sunday+
. Since then, there was little hope.
The past 24 hours witnessed considerable anxiety, tension and
uncertainty across the state. While millions spent a sleepless night and
a day with prayers, the AIADMK readied itself for the eventuality and
elected OPS as the legislature party leader.
Around 6pm, a few Tamil television channels reported that the chief
minister had died, sending Jayalalithaa followers into despair and a few
hundreds in front of the Apollo Hospitals into fury. They broke police
barricades and threw stones; police resorted to mild force. Soon, Apollo
Hospitals put out a statement saying Jayalalithaa was still on
life-support, forcing the channels to retract the news.
At the AIADMK head quarters, the party flag which was at half-mast after the news broke, fluttered high again.
Shops downed shutters by early. The doctors, however, refused to give
up. "She hasn't woken up after the cardiac arrest," a doctor told TOI.
"But we are hopeful."
Dr Richard Beale, the in early afternoon, vehicles went off the roads,
and schools, colleges and offices called it a day tensivist who flew in
from London several times to treat Jayalalithaa, said: "Unfortunately
and in spite of the progress she had made, her underlying health
condition inevitably meant that the risk of further problems always
remained ...The situation is grave,
but I can confirm that everything
possible is being done to give her the best chance of surviving this
shocking event." Apollo Hospitals executive director Sangita Reddy
tweeted around 2.45pm: "Despite our best efforts, our beloved CM remains
in a grave situation." Four specialists from AIIMS, Delhi were
assisting Apollo doctors till late in the evening when the CM remained
on life support systems for the heart, lungs and kidneys.
A team of doctors finally pronounced her dead at 11.30pm.
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