CHENNAI: Natarajan Maruthappa (76), husband of VK Sasikala, close aide of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, died in the wee hours on Tuesday, after prolonged illness. Natarajan is survived by his wife Sasikala, now undergoing a four-year term in Parappana Agrahara prison in the disproportionate wealth case.
Natarajan underwent liver and kidney transplant in October last and was recovering. But after he developed complications including chest pain, was admitted to Global hospital on March 16 and his condition remained critical.
V Pugazhendi, staunch supporter of Sasikala and Dhinakaran told mediapersons that she was expected to be released on parole at around 11 a.m., today and she is likely to reach Thanjavur later in the day to take part in the final rites for her husband.
Born in Vilar village in Thanjavur district to Maruthappa, a marginal farmer, Natarajan while doing his BA, got the attention of DMK leaders including L Ganesan, since he took active participation in 1965 anti-Hindi agitations.
Later, during the DMK regime, he was appointed as Public Relations Officer by the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and in 1973, he got married to VK Sasikala and Karunanidhi presided over his marriage. During emergency period, his services were terminated. However, he got it back after during the AIADMK regime when MG Ramachandran was chief minister.
During the period between 1976-1980, he and his wife Sasikala started Vinoth video service as a livelihood measure which helped Sasikala in firming up her friendship with J Jayalalithaa in the later years.
A well known supporter of Pro-Eelam cause, Natarajan has continued his contact with many Tamil organisations till the end. He was responsible for establishing the Mullivaikkal memorial in Thanjavur district.
Natarajan wielded strong influence in the AIADMK since early 1980s and he was responsible for many key decisions in that party particularly, when it split in 1988 after the death of late Chief Minister MG Ramachandran.
In one of his recent interviews, Natarajan said he had not met late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa since 1991 after her swearing in as chief minister of the State for the first time. His influence was so much so in the AIADMK that Natarajan in his interview claimed that the election manifesto of AIADMK for the 2011 Assembly elections was finalised by him with the help of a couple of retired IAS officials.
In 1980, when he was PRO at Cuddalore district, he was working under Collector VS Chandralekha. When Jayalalithaa, the then propaganda secretary of AIADMK addressed AIADMK conference in Cuddalore, Natarajan got introduced to Jayalalithaa during this period. From the mid-1980s Sasikala and Natarajan started staying at Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa.
In 1991, Jayalalithaa became the chief minister of the State for the first time. At one point, Jayalalithaa banned Sasikala's husband M Natarajan from entering Poes Garden. On one occasion, in a strongly worded statement, Jayalalithaa accused Natarajan of trying to create an impression that he was managing the affairs of the AIADMK.
However, Sasikala continued to stay with Jayalalithaa. Even after he exit from Poes Garden, Natarajan continued to wield influence on the AIADMK despite Jayalalithaa taking potshots at him.
One of the key incidents that took place in his life is that he checked Jayalalithaa from taking a decision to quit politics in 1989. Early in 1989, DMK president M Karunanidhi became chief minister after a gap of 13 years.
At that time, Natarajan was accused cheating a AIADMK aspirant for party ticket to contest the Assembly elections and police entered his house and found a letter purportedly written by Jayalalitha resigning her membership, addressed to the Assembly Speaker.
The contents were leaked to the media. Natarajan had stopped Jayalalithaa from taking that decision. Ultimately, the ‘resignation letter’ incident led to the unprecedented pandemonium in the State Assembly on March 25, 1989 that saw Chief Minister Karunanidhi's glasses broken and Jayalalithaa being manhandled.
In December 2011, Jayalalithaa expelled VK Sasikala, her husband M Natarajan, TTV Dhinakaran and many close relatives of Sasikala from AIADMK. Sasikala was asked to leave Poes Garden. However, she returned to Poes Garden within 100 days. But Jayalalithaa kept away others.
After Jayalalithaa’s death, Natarajan resurfaced and appealed to the factions of the AIADMK work unitedly.