Supporters of Jayalalithaa shout slogans during a protest against the court verdict in Chennai yesterday. INSET: Jayalalithaa

Agencies/Bangalore

 

 

A court yesterday sentenced Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to four years in jail, in a corruption case that has lasted nearly two decades.

Jayalalithaa, chief of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and one of the most popular politicians in India, was convicted of amassing wealth totalling Rs667mn ($11mn).

Special judge John Michael Cunha also fined her Rs1bn ($16.36mn).

Television reports showed supporters of Jayalalithaa clashing with police in Bangalore and Chennai. TV reports said she was currently in hospital suffering from ill health.

During a raid on her home in 1997 police also seized assets including 28kg of gold, 750 pairs of shoes and more than 10,000 saris.

Prosecutors said her assets, which reportedly included two 1,000-acre estates in the lush tropical state she ran, were vastly disproportionate to her earnings.

Jayalalithaa was found guilty of “amassing wealth disproportionate to known sources of her income,” prosecutor G Bhavani Singh told reporters outside the makeshift court in Bangalore where she was convicted.

During her first term (1991-1996) as the chief minister, Jayalalithaa had announced that she would take just Re1 as salary.

The charge against her was that her assets were around Rs30mn in 1991 and had grown to more than Rs660mn between 1991 and 1996.

The AIADMK was voted out in 1996 as it was perceived to be corrupt.

The judge also convicted three others - Sasikala and her relatives V N Sudhakaran and J Illavarasi guilty. Sasikala is the close aide of Jayalalithaa.

The verdict means that Jayalalithaa, a three-time chief minister, who runs the third largest party in parliament, will have to step down under a Supreme Court ruling that says legislators will be disqualified if convicted and sentenced.

However, she will have the option of approaching a higher court which could overturn the verdict.

“I am pleased that the Indian democratic system is working,” Subramanian Swamy, a petitioner in the case and a leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, told the television channel Times Now. “It is an appropriate punishment.”

The portly, fair-skinned Jayalalithaa acted in several Tamil movies before joining politics and has a huge fan following. She endeared herself to millions by distributing free laptops, grinders and fans to voters.

Jayalalithaa and her supporters have always maintained that corruption charges against her were political motivated.

She has earned the loyalty of people in the southern state with a series of highly populist schemes including an “Amma canteen” that provides lunch for just Rs3, although she has also drawn accusations of an autocratic governing style.

Her comments during the election campaign that it was time for a change in New Delhi raised speculation that her party could act as kingmaker to Modi, although in the end, the BJP won an outright majority.

Nevertheless, she is regarded as an ally of the prime minister, and her conviction will come as a blow to the government.

Jayalalithaa took over the leadership of the AIADMK party after the death of its founder M G Ramachandran (MGR) - her on-screen love interest in multiple movies.

Friends and foes are in awe of Jayalalithaa, who is the tallest Brahmin politician in a state where anti-Brahminism is a part of political discourse.

Even her critics admit that Jayalalithaa is a fighter and has an iron grip over her party.

The judgment was delivered in the state where she was born.

Jayalalithaa was first elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly in 1989. Just two years later, she became the chief minister, sweeping the election of 1991 held in the wake of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.

 

Who will be the new chief minister?

 

IANS/Chennai

 

Who will be Tamil Nadu’s new chief minister? This is being debated animatedly in the state following the conviction of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a corruption case.

After being sentenced to four years in prison, Jayalalithaa loses her Tamil Nadu assembly membership and the chief minister’s post. The Bangalore court also fined her Rs1bn.

So, who will now head the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party government in her absence? In any case, this is not the first time such a question has cropped up.

In 2001, Jayalalithaa stepped down as chief minister following a Supreme Court verdict which said she cannot hold the office after being convicted for criminal offences.

The actor-turned-politician made O Panneerselvam, a senior minister in her government, the chief minister.

In 2002, Jayalalithaa again became the chief minister after being acquitted by the Madras High Court. She was later elected from Andipatti constituency.

AIADMK leaders do not rule out re-run of such an arrangement.

The names of some ministers are doing the rounds as a possible successor to Jayalalithaa.

There is also talk of a non-politician being given the post until Jayalalithaa gets free from various legal tangles.

Anyone who is not a member of the Tamil Nadu assembly will have to get elected within six months, if he or she is made the chief minister.

Meanwhile, AIADMK activists stoned buses and forced shopkeepers to down shutters in the state.

Police beefed up security outside the residences of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi, his son M K Stalin and senior leader K Anbazhagan.

As soon as the court decision came, AIADMK cadres started stoning buses and forced shopkeepers to down their shutters in Kanchipuram, Trichy, Madurai and other places.

Tension prevailed in some parts of Chennai and city bus services were halted for long routes.

Jayalalithaa yesterday became the third leading politician and the first sitting chief minister to face disqualification as a legislator.

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was disqualified from his seat in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rasheed Masood from the Rajya Sabha in the wake of the July 2013 judgment of the Supreme Court that denied the three-month breathing period to MPs and state legislators for moving a higher court against their conviction.

The verdict is a big political setback for Jayalalithaa and her party, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.

“She may not be an AIADMK electoral candidate for a long time. The disqualification will be effective for six years,” BJP secretary H Raja said.

He said it gives an opportunity for the BJP in Tamil Nadu to provide an alternative.

Raja said all parties should accept the verdict and there should be no violence in the state.

“If there is violence following the verdict, then it is clear that there is a failure of law and order situation,” he said.