In a series of tweets Panneerselvam said that he was not allowed to see J Jayalalithaa even once in the hospital where she died on December 5 last year.

"Had visited hospital daily to enquire about Jayalalithaa's health condition, but couldn't meet her even once. Every day my family would ask, did you see Amma at Apollo. I even considered saying yes, but I couldn't lie," Mr Panneerselvam said.

He said that he would always tell his family every day that he couldn't see Ms Jayalalithaa because of fear of infection.

Ms Jayalalithaa was admitted to hospital after she complained of chest pain in September last year. Some select group of people including VK Sasikala met her in the hospital. Sasikala took charge as the AIADMK chief days after Jayalalithaa's death.

Mr Panneerselvam, 66, a long-time loyalist of the former Chief Minister, said "I had "doubts" about Ms Jayalalithaa's treatment which needed to be answered.:

He is the second leader to raise questions after PH Pandian, another AIADMK veteran, advised that the former Chief Minister's death was not due to natural causes.

AIADMK leader M Thambidurai said that "His rebelling is useless. He's only caretaker. Caretaker cannot take or pass a policy."

In his tweet, Mr Panneerselvam shot back that he "will not respond to my party's criticism because they are stuck in a place where they are forced to behave in such a way."

On speculation that he had given a statement because of his relation with rival DMK and the BJP, he said: "I have no connections with BJP and my actions are my personal decisions".

Online Petition Filed Asking Pranab Mukherjee to Stop Sasikala Becoming CM

BY M. DIVYA SRI