Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
As Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalaithaa sets her eyes on the national stage, her campaign has repeatedly targeted the DMK for being what she calls a dynastic, corruption-riddled party.
But she, too is haunted by an association with the family of her companion Sasikala Natarajan, accused of running a parallel government from her home, and of using that influence to build a vast financial empire.
When the DMK came to power in 1996, they brought 13 cases of corruption against Ms Jayalalithaa and the Natarajan family. Of these all have closed save one, which drags on in a Bangalore court, where Ms Jayalalithaa along with Sasikala and her niece and nephew have been charged of amassing unexplained wealth worth 66 crores: land, jewellery, cash and other assets.
The AIADMK spokesperson, Dr V Maitreyan, has rubbished these as baseless charges.
But the confusion over Ms Jayalalithaa's association with the Sasikala family, and the extent to which they acted as a parallel power centre, persists. Over the years, Ms Jayalaithaa expelled Sasikala and all her relatives from her Poes Garden residence, but in a reversal, only Sasikala was allowed to return last year.
Lifting the veil of silence for the first time, M Natarajan, Sasikala's estranged husband, spoke extensively to NDTV at his home in Thanjavur in central Tamil Nadu.
He admitted that he and the Sasikala famiy were involved in taking crucial decisions of appointments and transfers when Ms Jayalaithaa came to power in 1991.
Mr Natarajan at that time was only a junior official in the state information department. He says "since Jayalalithaa and most ministers (except those who had served under MGR) were new to administration, and I had served as an officer for 20 years, I had access to information and officials with whom I had worked. Therefore I was able to pinpoint the good people. She would honourably accepted my indications because she had no other option. At that time she had no access, now she is well versed with everybody."
He doesn't think he was functioning as an extra constitutional authority and rebuts it by bringing in Karunanidhi and his family. "If that is admissible then this is also admissible".
Dr Maitreyan counters this, "It is an unsubstantiated charge and as far as my party or government is concerned, it is Madam alone who takes all decisions."
Mr Natarajan says the money which Ms Jayalalithaa has been charged for amassing belongs to Sasikala and her family. "You subtract Jayalalitha madam's. I am occupying some portions (of the wealth). How it can be disproportionate? I am not occupying any government position. I might have misused her position, misused her office also. It is all (belongs to the Sasikala) family only. It's not Jayalalitha's."
When we asked how did the family then create such a large business empire, with interests in real estate, media, and more, he insists that the special access they had to the Chief Minister made it easy to receive a flow of funds. He said, "see, money for anybody who are coming to power, behind the leadership or behind the political force, many people will come to help you."
Mr Natarajan says he was banished from Poes Garden because Ms Jayalalithaa refused to acknowledge the role he had played in resurrecting her political career after the death of her mentor, the late MG Ramachandran. Ms Jayalalithaa had been sidelined in the AIADMK; Natarajan claims he helped her fight back and take over the party, and to her eventually winning the 1991 elections.
He said "see, she has her own way of functioning in which I didn't want to interrupt in between. She feels after winning the election nobody should claim that she won because of A, B or C." Later, he said that the DMK attempted to drive a wedge between Ms Jayalaithaa and the Sasikala family by spreading false information about how they were plotting against her. "There is a view in the DMK...that if Natarajan and family are liquidated out of that area (Jayalalaithaa's residence), only then can DMK recapture that area. That is their primary agenda. "
But the reasons for keeping Mr Natarajan at bay may be otherwise: he was arrested, and released on bail, for grabbing land to build a memorial for LTTE martyrs in the town of Trichy. He claims its a trumped up charge, and that it was an act of political vendetta, a charge the AIADMK denies.
So why was Sasikala allowed back in 2012? Mr Natarajan claims because she and Ms Jayalalithaa are embroiled in the same case. "Nothing except the disproportionate income case", he said. "If it was not for it Jaya herself would sent Sasikala out. Because it is her nature".
He says he and his wife are not estranged. "After Sasikala comes out of the case she has already promised to the members of our family, if not to me, after the case is over she says I will come. Till that time everyone will remain silent. That's why they are all silent."