AIADMK lashes out at VK Sasikala's brother V Divakaran, says he is not 'qualified' to criticise Jayalalithaa

Chennai: The unified AIADMK on Monday lashed out at deposed party leader VK Sasikala’s brother V Divakaran for his comments on late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, saying he was not qualified to “criticise” her. [caption id=“attachment_4114155” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of former AIADMK leader VK Sasikala. PTI[/caption] Senior party leader and fisheries minister D Jayakumar took strong exception to Divakaran’s remarks that Jayalalithaa did not ensure any “protection” to Sasikala, who was her close aide. He slammed the Sasikala family as an “embodiment of opportunism”. “Divakaran has no qualification to criticise Amma…(TTV) Dhinakaran (sidelined AIADMK leader) is also reported to have made some remarks against Amma. History will not forgive them,” he told reporters here. Days after Income Tax sleuths raided premises linked to the family of the jailed Sasikala, Divakaran said on Saturday that Jayalalithaa did not ensure any “protection” to his sister. “Amma (Jayalalithaa) utilised her fully, but went (died) without giving her any protection,” he said without elaborating. “Just imagine, if someone from your family happened to be with a powerful leader and did all the things said by the leader, and was still pushed to an unsafe situation later, then that is the best example for all women. It is a lesson for all,” he had told reporters while responding to queries on the I-T raids against him and others associated with Sasikala. Divakaran said that since 1996, Sasikala has always been under a cloud of ‘inquiry’, an apparent reference to a spate of corruption cases filed against Jayalalithaa and his sister after the party lost the Assembly elections that year.