Why Jayalalithaa threw out old faithful Dr Maitreyan from the party
August 21, 2014  14:10
Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa is known for springing surprises. The latest is the removal of Dr V Maitreyan as leader of the AIADMK Parliamentary Party.

The move has earned sympathy for Dr Maitreyan, who was the face of the party.

Several senior BJP, Congress and Trinamool Congress leaders including Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, were shocked over the way he has been ousted.

But political observers of the AIADMK and DMK and other regional parties of South India are not surprised over the expulsion and dismissal.

Get this: In February, Jayalalitha removed Manoj Pandian as deputy leader of the party in the the Rajya Sabha. And much earlier, she had ordered the AIADMK minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to resign. She had kept TTV Dunakaran, AIADMK MP, out of Parliament. Dunakaran is the brother of Sasikala.

As for the DMK -- Karunanidhi has asked Dayanidhi Maran not to attend Lok Sabha proceedings.

Rumours are rife over why Maitreyan was shunted out. He apparently, over-stepping the "Amma LoC"  by supporting the Judicial Accountability Bill, for which the AIADMK had abstained from voting.

Dr Maitreyan has also been meeting Narendra Modi and Arun Jailtey often.

And another reason, that MPs have been whispering about is that Maitreyan knows about Jayalalithaa's income tax matters, or in effect, the palace secrets. So, she had no other option but to get rid of him.

And then there is this version -- that MPs complained to Amma that Maitreyan did not introduce freshers to the PM.

An MBBS from Nagpur, Dr Maitreyan is fluent in Hindi and even speaks a little Marathi and therefore is at ease with north Indian politicians and has an edge over other party members.
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