Jayalalithaa compares public life to 'swimming in a river of fire'

She requested her supporters to not commit suicide in a second statement issued after she got bail on Friday

AIADMK general secretary and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa today said her public life was akin to swimming in a river of fire.

Jayalalithaa, who was released on a bail last week, today issued a statement saying, “My public life was akin to swimming in a river of fire, and I know the kind of difficulties that I would face in my public life”.

She added that she was not worried about the challenges and problems in her political journey lying in the path of welfare of Tamil Nadu and its citizens.

“I had faced several challenges in my life and I came out of them successfully,” she said in the statement, which is the second ever since she was granted bail and also since she was sent to jail by Bangalore Special Court on September 27, in a case involving disproportionate assets.

Jayalalithaa also urged her supporters not to commit suicide for her welfare. “I request with love that nobody should resort to suicide.”

While thanking all her supporters for holding special prayers, Jayalalithaa said such gestures moved her.

She also announced a solatium of Rs 3 lakh to the families of the people who died and Rs 50,000 to those who tried to commit suicide after hearing to her jail sentence.