Photo opportunity

As every newspaper reader in the country knows, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa carpet-bombed the national press with advertising supplements celebrating her first anniversary in office. The advertisements, which celebrated various ways in which her debt-ridden government has given away taxpayers’ money, were dotted with various photographs of a beaming chief minister. Of course, it was just a coincidence that Ms Jayalalithaa’s advertisements replaced the front page on a day it would otherwise have carried a cheerful Andimuthu Raja being released from jail after being granted bail. Some in Mr Raja’s DMK, apparently, aren’t so convinced it’s such a coincidence.