Jaya’s ‘legal heirs’ get her bungalow
The keys of Veda Nilayam, former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa’s iconic house in Poes Garden, were handed over to J. Deepa and J. Deepak, Jayalalithaa’s niece and nephew, by the Chennai district Collector J. Vijaya Rani on Friday following the Madras High Court ruling to that effect.
Entering the sprawling 24,322 square feet bungalow, after a government official opened the doors for the legal heirs of the property that was sought to be converted into a memorial by the earlier AIADMK government, Deepa turned nostalgic and told media persons that she was born in that house. For her it was always her aunt’s house and not the Chief Minister’s residence, said Deepa, who even went upstairs to stand on the famous balcony in the house from where Jayalalithaa had greeted her followers several times, providing historic pictures of the moment.
Bought by Jayalalithaa’s mother and Deepa’s grandmother, Sandhya, in 1967 a few years after Jayalalithaa took to acting in films, Veda Nilayam has been the permanent residence of Jayalalithaa till she took ill seriously and was shifted to the Apollo Hospitals on the night of September 22, 2016.
After Jayalalithaa’s passing on December 5, 2016, her close friend V.K. Sasikala, who had also been residing in the house along with some of her relatives for many years, continued to live there and was also meeting party cadre and others from there even as she was preparing to take over as Chief Minister.
The historically significant house is treated as a ‘temple’ by her ardent followers who would throng the streets of the posh locality every time something eventful happened.