Jayalalithaa likely to be elected leader of the legislature party on May 22

Decks were cleared for Jayalalithaa's return as Tamil Nadu chief minister after the Karnataka high court on May 11 acquitted her in the assets case

AIADMK supermo J Jayalalithaa is likely to return as Tamil Nadu chief minister for the fifth time following her acquittal in the disproportionate assets case.

The former chief minister has convened a meeting of party MLAs on May 22nd here. All the 151 MLAs have been asked by her to attend the meeting “without fail”, according to a party release.

However, the 67-year-old leader continues to shy away from public appearance. Despite strong indications of she claiming the top post, suspense continues, as there is a strong opposition within the political circles that the judgement had several arithmetic errors.

It was reported Karnataka high court Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) BV Acharya had favoured appealing against the acquittal of Jayalalithaa.  BJP leader Subramanian Swamy recently tweeted, “I have decided to file an SLP (special leave petition) in the Supreme Court after June 1, if the Karnataka government does not file. So no need to go to KHC (Karnataka High Court).”

An AIADMK source who is in touch with Jayalalithaa’s legal team said if one studied the judgement properly, the amount which Justice CR Kumaraswamy had mentioned “more or less tallied”.  However, he said, the judge had considered money from nationalised banks, without including the funds received from private financiers in the table.

While in the order, the Judge had mentioned about the subscription scheme of Namadhu MGR, a publication acting as a mouthpiece of AIADMK, and the receipt of the money raised through it, it was not clubbed in the table, which is being criticised as a mathematical error.

The AIADMK party said the allegations of mathematical errors are clear attempt of Opposition parties to curb the prevailing positive feeling among the party cadre soon after Jayalalithaa’s acquittal. The party supremo, while met the chief minister O Panneerselvam and some of the senior ministers on Wednesday, had not make any comment on the party’s immediate plans.

When asked about the allegations, CR Saraswati, party spokesperson said, “We are happy that Amma has come clean.”  On Wednesday, speaking about Jayalalithaa taking over as chief minister of the state, she said, “In our party, Amma is the only one to take decisions. You don’t have to wait for one week or a month for that, you would hear it straight from her in a day or two”.