Tamil Nadu parties slam Jaitley-Jayalalithaa meeting

Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu Monday criticised the meeting between Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa.

"Is it proper on the part of a central minister to visit the house of a person convicted by a court for corruption and whose appeal petition is being heard by a court?" DMK president M. Karunanidhi said in a statement issued here.

Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, Karunanidhi said doubt arises whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also a party to this.

Karunanidhi said Jaitley met Jayalalithaa when the Income Tax department was processing an out-of-court settlement of her 18-year-old case.

The PMK - which is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance - also hit out against the Jaitley-Jayalalithaa meeting.

"The meeting gives rise to suspicion," PMK founder S. Ramadoss said.

Tamil Nadu Congress leader E.V.K.S. Elangovan said the BJP's anti-corruption stance stood exposed now.

Jaitley Sunday called on Jayalalithaa at her residence here Sunday. They met for around 40 minutes.

The AIADMK in a statement said Jaitley went to Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence and was received by her warmly.

"It was a courtesy call which lasted 40 minutes," the statement added.

Jayalalithaa lost her assembly seat and the chief minister's post after she was sentenced to a four-year jail term and slapped with a fine of Rs.100 crore in a corruption case.