CM Jayalalithaa jailed in disproportionate assets case

Bengaluru / Chennai: In a big blow to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa, a special court in Bengaluru convicted and sentenced her to four years in prison and fined Rs 100 crore in a disproportionate assets case on Saturday. She is the first Chief Minister in India to face conviction and jail sentence while in office.

Special judge John Michael D’Cunha also sentenced the three other accused, including close friend Sasikala Natarajan, Sasikala’s niece Ilavarasi and nephew Sudhakaran, who is the ‘disowned’ foster son of Jayalalithaa in this case, initiated by Dr Subramanian Swamy and actively pursued by the rival DMK party since 1996. The allegation is that Jayalalithaa had amassed wealth valued at about Rs 66.65 crore in her name and in the names of the three others, which was disproportionate to her known source of income.

The court verdict meant that Jayalalithaa immediately ceased to be the Chief Minister and her cabinet stood dissolved. The state administration has come under the control of chief secretary Mohan Verghese Chunkath, who would report to state Governor K. Rosaiah. Jayalalithaa also stands disqualified as MLA. The AIADMK legislature party is likely to meet at Chennai on Sunday to formally ‘elect’ as the new leader the person she has chosen — the name is yet to be disclosed but there are some names doing the rounds.

Governor Dr K. Rosaiah is likely to swear in the new CM and ministers in the next couple of days, sources said. Concerned over the AIADMK members, angered by the Bengaluru verdict, indulging in violence in many parts of the state, the Governor summoned the chief secretary, director general of police and Chennai police commissioner and instructed them to take action to prevent further breach of law and order. He also sent a report to Union home minister on the TN situation, an informed source said.

Who’s next

There appear to be four strong candidates to replace J. Jayalalithaa as CM.

• O. Panneerselvam, who was CM when Jaya was stopped by Supreme Court from continuing as CM in 2001 when she had been disqualified from contesting the election.
• Natham R. Viswanathan, Electricity and Prohibition minister, member of the inner circle, never out of favour with the supremo.
• Senthil Balaji, transport minister is one of the youngest in the Cabinet. Could be the dark horse.
• Sheela Balakrishnan, bureaucrat and former Chief Secretary. Jaya had implicit trust in her administrative abilities. However , she faces opposition for lack of political experience.