The curious twists in Jayalalithaa wealth cases

P S Joseph

Chennai:April 17: The supreme court has extended the bail of J Jayalaithaa ,former chief minister of Tamil Nadu till May 11,which is a boon to the beleaguered AIADMK she heads .By May her AiADMK government completes four years in rule in Tamil Nadu and it shows of signs of cracking up despite there is no semblance of unity among the opposition and her arch rival DMK is facing corruption charges.The court has directed the Karnataka high court not to pronounce judgment in her disproportionate assets case(DA) till May 12

The Makkal Muthalavar(peoples chief minister) as she is fondly called by the AIADMK followers knows it is no cake walk for her in the case as in the assembly elections. Even after four years of her rule the popular sympathy in Tamil Nadu is in her favour and her main rivals D M K and MDMK are in disarray

But cracks are appearing in the political edifice carefully nurtured by her . Two of her ministers are accused of graft. One minister is dismissed and is now cooling his heels in the jail.The killing of 20 Tamil Nadu tribals in Andhra forests allegedly by fake encounter is another issue affecting the government. Though she has good relations with the BJP and the government needs AIADMK`s support in Rajaysabha she is not in a position to command overt or covert support from the centre.

Even the pronouncement of the judgment in the DA case in Karnataka is in chopped waters as the case against the prosecutor in the case Bhawani Singh is in the supreme court.As the two member bench has disagreed on the verdict it has been posted before a larger bench and may be heard on April 21^st. AIADMK secretary K Anbazhakan has questioned the appointment of Bhawani Singh again as prosecutor n the DA case which has been heard and kept reserved for judgment. If Bhawani Singh has to be removed as the prosecution lawyer the case has to be heard afresh and new verdict to be made.

Meanwhile the transfer of the Karnatakta high court chief justice to Odissa has also shockd the opposition.They claim that it would affect the speedy declaration of verdict. The judge Kumaraswamy might retire by August which means a new judge has to be found if Bhawani Shankar is replaced

As it is a high profile case involving crores which is meticulously documenetd by the Tamil Nadu police and verified by the lower court,the high court would have tough time pronouncing the verdict as it involves one of the firebrand leaders in India If the verdict is against Jayalaithaa the fortunes of AIADMK would be at peril as it would be along time before the final verdict come from the Supreme court. Even if it is not upheld the damage to the party and the leader would be great