CHENNAI: ‘Veda Nilayam’, the sprawling bungalow in the city’s plush Poes Garden where J. Jayalalithaa lived most of her life, will be converted into a memorial for the departed leader, caretaker Chief Minister O Panneerselvam announced on Thursday.

Firing yet another salvo against AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala, who is currently living in the Poes Garden residence of late Jayalalithaa, Mr Panneerselvam said his mentor, who inspired lakhs of people, deserved a memorial.


“The Poes Garden residence of late Amma will be converted into a memorial. This is the first step of the struggle to declare it a memorial. We will ensure that the residence is converted into a memorial for late Amma so that lakhs of people can come and relive their memories about the late leader,” the Chief Minister told reporters at his Greenways Road residence.

‘81 Veda Nilayam’, the iconic address which was the power centre of Tamil Nadu politics for nearly three decades, was bought in 1967 by the late Chief Minister’s mother Sandhya. Ms Jayalalithaa had lived in the house till September 22 last year, the day she was admitted to Apollo Hospitals.

Mr Panneerselvam said articles and books belonging to the late Chief Minister would be on display at the memorial that is to come up. There have been several demands from various quarters for making the Poes Garden residence a memorial for late Jayalalithaa.

The sprawling 24,000 square feet bungalow that is valued at `90 crore was very dear to the late Chief Minister who had lived there for nearly five decades.

Meanwhile, the Pann-eerselvam camp received a major boost with the AIADMK Presidium chairman E. Madusudanan switching over to the Chief Minister’s side, saying he wanted to “safeguard” the party. “To protect AIADMK, everybody should join hands with OPS (Panneerselvam),” Madusudanan said, adding that he did not want the party to get into the hands of a family.