Deepa Jayakumar, Deepak divided on Jaya memorial
The Chief Minister’s announcement to convert former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s Poes garden residence, Veda Nilayam, into a memorial has elicited contrasting views from Deepa Jayakumar and Deepak, Jayalalithaa’s niece and nephew respectively.
By : migrator
Update: 2017-08-18 19:08 GMT
Chennai
Both Deepak and Deepa agreed that they were the legal heirs as the property was purchased by Jayalalithaa’s mother Sandhya. However, the mystery over Jayalalithaa’s will still remains.
While Deepa has opposed the CM’s announcement to convert the house into a memorial arguing that she should have been consulted before the decision was made and that there was no reply or response to her moves in this connection, Deepak told a private TV channel that he welcomed the decision of the state government and that as far as he was concerned he would have willingly surrendered his share of the property had the government requested him.
Deepa, in a televised media interaction, stated that they had the moral, legal, and ethical right to the property and that nobody had the power or authority to do anything with the Poes Garden building without their consent.
While former chief minister O Panneerselvam-led AIADMK (PTA) welcomed the move, law minister C Ve Shanmugam, who is in the Amma faction told the media that all issues associated with Veda Nilayam would be discussed before any official action.
“If any of the legal heirs staked their claims over the property, they would be paid adequate compensation,” he added.
Madras High Court senior counsel and former additional solicitor general P Wilson said, “As there is no will, the property will go to the class 2 heirs (Deepa and Deepak).
The state government will then acquire it under emergency provisions, which requires that they
notify the public and call for objections through a publication. Once objections are received, the government will have to provide adequate compensation for acquiring the property.”
Forest minister Dindigul C Srinivasan said, “Chief Minister made the announcement regarding conversion of Poes Garden into a memorial only after considering all related issues. There will be no legal hurdle if the government decides to make it a memorial,” he explained.
POES GARDEN, THE POWER CENTRE
- 10 grounds: total area of Veda Nilayam (approx 24,000 sq ft).
- 1967 was the year when Jayalalithaa bought the bungalow.
- 1.32 lakh was the cost paid by her for the bungalow in 1967, according to the affidavit filed by Jayalalithaa during 2016 Assembly elections.
- 2016 May probably was the last occasion when the late CM waved the ‘V’ sign from the balcony of her Poes Garden house.
- Jayalalithaa had hosted several top leaders, including Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley, at her house.
- Neighbours include ‘superstar’ Rajinikanth.
- ‘Veda’ is the name of Jayalalithaa’s mother, who was known as Sandhya in the Tamil film world.
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