Still closeted in her Poes Garden residence, the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced on Friday morning that the AIADMK Legislature Party meeting would be held here on May 22.
In a press release, Ms. Jayalalithaa, general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, asked the 151 MLAs of the party to attend the meeting without fail. It is widely believed that the Legislature Party will elect her its leader, paving the way for her return as Chief Minister.
The meeting of MLAs was called a day after E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Congress State president, issued a statement questioning the “mysterious happenings” at Poes Garden and wondering why Ms. Jayalalithaa had not met anyone, even Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, after the Karnataka High Court acquitted her in the disproportionate assets case on May 11.
No public appearance
Ms. Jayalalithaa has not made a public appearance since her acquittal. Despite rumours that she would visit the party headquarters and a temple a couple of days after the verdict, she preferred to remain indoors.
Denying reports that the Chief Minister and some of his Cabinet colleagues met Ms. Jayalalithaa, highly placed sources in the government and the party maintained that she had not met anyone.
Meanwhile, at the Secretariat, only Mr. Panneerselvam was in his office on Friday; none of his Cabinet colleagues turned up for the second successive day. Almost all of them had been working overtime at the Secretariat ahead of the verdict, but have not been seen since.
Over the past two days, Mr. Panneerselvam and Adviser to the Government Sheela Balakrishnan held discussions with Tamil Nadu Assembly Secretary A.M.P. Jamaludeen.
From silver screen to political dream
Acquitted: what next?
- Jayalalithaa can be elected leader of the AIADMK legislature party now and can be sworn in CM. she will have to enter the Assembly through an election within the next six months.
- The attachment of the assets will be lifted. They will be returned to the ‘original owner’ as mentioned in the documents. The court might have to wait for 60 days to check if anyone has contested against the judgment.
- Her sentence and her fine amount has been set aside. She does not need to pay the fine amount now.
- As the prosecuting State, Karnataka has the right to appeal to the SC against the verdict. Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy can also file an appeal against the verdict as he is the prime appellant.
- If an appeal is filed against this judgement in Supreme Court, the duration of the case will depend on the SC alone. In Jayalalithaa's case, they fixed a deadline for the High Court to finish the hearing.
>SPP
B.V. Acharya came back as the Special Public Prosecutor in the DA case. The role of the SPP has taken many twists and turns in this case
>Live chat
Live chat on the verdict that acquitted Jayalalithaa. Our legal expert K.Venkataramanan answers questions as to events that will follow the verdict.
>Timeline of events
Jayalalithaa's prosecution was marked by many twists and turns over the years as the accused repeatedly sought legal remedy for various issues.