Jaya moves HC, sobbing new CM takes oath
Given Amma’s stature in the AIADMK, her jail sentence may not make a difference in governance
CHENNAI/BENGALURU: Former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa approached the Karnataka high court Monday, seeking bail and quashing of a four-year jail term awarded to her by a special court in a corruption case.
Jayalalithaa loyalist O Panneerselvam took oath as chief minister — with a choked voice and dabbing his tears with a handkerchief — at a low-key ceremony in Chennai’s Raj Bhavan, replacing his party chief for the second time under similar circumstances. He filled in for Jayalalithaa in 2001 after she was convicted in a land deals case.
Most of the 30 MLAs who followed Panneerselvam on the podium to take oath were also either weeping or sobbing.
The AIADMK chief, affectionately known as Amma, was forced to step down after being found guilty by a Bengaluru court last week of amassing wealth beyond her known sources of income.
Noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani will argue her case before a high court vacation bench on Tuesday, party sources said.
Jayalalithaa, a former movie star, enjoys widespread popularity in Tamil Nadu and is renowned for handing out freebies, including electric blenders, goats and jewellery to voters.
CHENNAI: For the loyal soldiers of the Amma army in AIADMK, she is omnipotent and omnipresent. Her physical absence amounts to nothing as the party apparatus and the gover nment machinery will function smoothly and do her bidding.
Nothing has changed, AIADMK gover nment continues — except in place of Jayalalithaa, her loyalist, O Pannerselvam, will be filling in for her. Her jail sentence in a disproportionate assets case will make no difference in governance delivery or style of governance.
The network of her trusted bureaucrats, who run the administration, is very much in place to guide new chief minister Panneerselvam. He himself would do nothing, either as CM or as party treasurer, without clearance from Jayalalithaa. In fact, so total and absolute is Amma’s control over the party apparatus that anyone stepping out of the line is unthinkable in AIADMK. AIADMK leaders
PANNEERSELVAM HIMSELF WOULD DO NOTHING, EITHER AS CM OR AS PARTY TREASURER, WITHOUT CLEARANCE FROM JAYA
were seen bowing even to the chopper carrying Amma after it took off at an election rally venue. Such is their reverence of Jayalalithaa.
A political analyst said, Amma’s control over party is absolute. “There is no vacuum. She is only jailed for four years. And she can come out clear as well, she is good fighter,” the analyst said adding “she is more dangerous for political foes from inside the jail.”
Sympathy factor could be something her political opponents would find hard to fight — which the DMK knows so well. Which is why, it is petrified of making a loud statement about Amma’s current travails.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of her arrest, Tamil Nadu on Monday too witnessed sporadic protests against Bangalore court judgement. Student bodies, lawyers, traders owing allegiance to AIADMK, held protest demonstrations in several places in the state.
I n Chennai, a g roup of AIADMK MLAs be g an an indefinite hunger strike at Anna memorial. All the 30 ministers who were sworn in today participated in the protest before going for swearing in ceremony. The protests are slowly growing with different bodies announcing programmes.