The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Sunday announced the name of O Paneerselvam as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after the party MLAs held a detailed discussion over the matter at party office.
The announcement came a day after party supremo and CM J Jayalalithaa was convicted by a Special court which sentenced her to 4-year jail and fined Rs. 100 crore in the Rs. 66.65 crore illegal asset case. The sentencing also immediately disqualified her from being an MLA.
Jayalalithaa’s close associate N Sasikala, her relatives VN Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi, who are the other accused in the case were also given four-year prison term and slapped a fine of Rs. 10 crore each.
All the legislators were been asked to be present in Sunday’s meeting. Majority of the ministers of the Jayalalithaa ministry and MLAs had been in Bangalore since Saturday to know the outcome of the Special Court verdict.
Jaya spent her first night in Bangalore Central jail after being convicted in 18-year-old disproportionate case by a special court on Saturday.
According to reports, lawyers for jailed AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa will move the Karnataka High Court tomorrow for bail for her while they were also finalising a strategy for seeking a stay on her conviction and sentence in the disproportionate assets case.
“We will be filing a bail application in the Karnataka High Court tomorrow,” B Kumar, Senior Counsel for the 66-year-old leader said.
But it may be taken up only on Tuesday when there is a scheduled hearing by a vacation bench because the high court will observe holidays from September 29 to August 6 for Dasara.
A battery of lawyers today were giving final touches to their legal strategy in seeking immediate relief for Jayalalithaa, who has been convicted by Special Judge John Michael D’Cunha and sentenced to four years imprisonment in the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case.
Since the sentencing was for a period more than three years, only the high court can grant bail in Jayalalithaa’s case. Kumar said a team of lawyers were holding discussions on filing a petition seeking stay of conviction and also the sentence awarded to Jayalalithaa in the 18-year old case.
The criminal revision petition is one of the options before the lawyers who would like to secure an immediate stay on the conviction and the sentencing.
A stay on the conviction, which superior courts are said to be normally reluctant to grant in a corruption case, would nullify the disqualification as MLA which the AIADMK leader has suffered with yesterday’s judgement.
Unless the conviction is overturned by a superior court, Jayalalithaa runs the risk of being barred from contesting elections for 10 years — four years when she is in jail and six years after release.
Meanwhile, as per police, normalcy was returning to the state which witnessed sporadic violence in the aftermath of Jayalalithaa’s conviction and sentencing. Bus services, suspended in many parts of the state, were being resumed in a phased manner though operations to Bangalore were still not being taken up.
