No Change of Scene
The Mullaperiyar issue has put a question mark over CM Jayalalitha’s plans to relax in her estate at Kodanadu in the Ooty hills for two weeks in December. With opposition parties including the PMK demanding a special one-day assembly session to pass a resolution (that status quo prevail on the dam because Kerala wants to demolish it and build a new one), the government is veering around to the idea because Jayalalitha does not want to be left behind in the political one-upmanship on display here.
Kerala has already wondered aloud about the CM’s double standards — Jayalalitha insisted the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant should not go ahead till the people’s fears are allayed and they are convinced of its safety. The question being posed: Is amma not equally concerned since there is fear among the people in Kerala over the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam? But TN experts say Kerala is using safety as a ruse to demolish the dam and effectively cancel the 999 year lease. Tamil Nadu’s PWD department manages the dam although it is in Kerala. “They want to drive us out,” says K Ramalingam, president of the TN PWD Senior Engineers Association.
With so much ferment, amma’s holiday plans might be put on ice despite all the sprucing up of roads, and other preparations so she can run the government from her sanctuary in the hills. Already the trip to Kodanadu estate, where Jayalalitha spent many weeks at a stretch as opposition leader, that was scheduled for November 30, had been put off once.
Incidentally, unlike Karunanidhi who is on Cloud 9, Jayalalitha has dark clouds hovering around. Just like the thick clouds that gather on the hills and bring rain suddenly, the disproportionate assets case (and Sasikala’s appearance shortly) has also clouded – and rained on her parade following her landslide victory in the assembly and local body elections – what should have been a pleasant sojourn in the hills in her beloved estate. Jayalalitha has repeatedly been rapped on the knuckles by the Supreme court starting with the Samacheer Kalvi issue soon after taking over to the dismissal of nearly 15,000 contract workers. The court this week, hearing the case of the dismissed workers, questioned whether or not there was rule of law in the state.
Homecoming
There is celebration in the CIT colony residence of former CM Karunanidhi, now that favourite daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi has got bail after 194 days. That is, more than six months since she was arrested after being charge-sheeted in the 2G scam by the CBI and after being denied bail four times. Appaadaa! Vandittiyaa,” (finally, you have come back), will be his words to his daughter when she arrives here on Saturday.
Karunanidhi, who had gone in October to Delhi hoping to bring his daughter back for Deepavali, was so jubilant that he did not even wait to get dressed to meet reporters and share his joy. Throwing a towel over his vest – and sans his yellow shawl and trademark dark glasses – the father was graceful saying he did not want to do a post mortem on why his daughter was refused bail four times – twice by the high court and on one occasion each by the Supreme Court and the trial court. “I am not going to search for the reason for the delay in getting bail since it is a time for happiness,” he said.
I deliberately said CIT colony residence because that’s where she makes her home with her mother Rajathi ammal, who was in court to witness her daughter’s freedom. “I am so happy. Truth has finally triumphed over treachery, conspiracy,” she said cryptically.
How the Gopalapuram residence of the former CM will react when Kanimozhi comes to Chennai on Saturday is unclear because neither former deputy CM, M K Stalin, nor his brother, union minister M K Azhagiri, have even said a word of welcome, no matter how insincere, that their stepsister, whose incarceration had been traumatic for their father, has been released. There has been no indication about how step-sister Selvi and step-brother Tamilarasu or for that matter step-mother Dayalu Ammal, who has a 60 per cent stake in Kalaignar TV (while Kanimozhi and MD Sharad Kumar have a 20 per cent stake each – and were arrested because of the allegation that the channel received 2G kickback money) have received the news.
Selvi had intervened tearfully on behalf of the Maran brothers, Kalanithi and Dayanidhi, when the CBI raided them and Tamilarasu was present at the Maran residence during the raids, but there was no closing of ranks when Kanimozhi was arrested. Although, most members of the “first” family – as opposed to the “other “ family – visited Kanimozhi in Tihar soon after she was arrested, no one was in any doubt that they had been ordered there by the father.
A Big Party Post?
There’s a buzz that Karunanidhi wants to reward his daughter (who is the head of the DMK’s literary wing) with a big post, the same way he had gifted Azhagiri with the then newly created post of South Zone organizing secretary (the post has been disbanded after the DMK lost the assembly elections), after he was acquitted by a Chittoor court of being involved in the murder of former minister, Kiruttanan.
Karunanidhi was asked by reporters about it. His diplomatic reply, “I have expressed my happiness (on Kanimozhi getting bail) as a father. But I am not a dictator as a leader. The party will decide collectively.” But given Azhagiri’s barely-concealed hostility and the shadow boxing that broke out even when Karunanidhi tried to anoint Stalin as his political heir, the father is going to have a big battle on his hands if he wants to bring in Kanimozhi. Kanimozhi is a political lightweight and was no star performer for the party in Delhi when she was brought in as a DMK MP in mid-2007 after Dayanidhi Maran was turfed out following a family feud.
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Besides, even when she got bail, while Karunanidhi exulted, the celebrations among party cadre seemed forced. “It was brought to our notice that little was done at the DMK headquarters, so we came to show our support,” admitted a party cadre. There seemed to be no spontaneity about the celebrations even among the leaders. The indication of the mixed feelings was there for all to see – they were happy for Karunanidhi even if they don’t consider Kanimozhi to be a big leader, but underlying that was the feeling that she became a symbol of the 2G scam that was largely responsible for the DMK’s poor showing at the hustings, paving the way for AIADMK’s landslide victory.
Chinamma’s Day in Court
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It is now Chinamma’s aka Sasikala Natarajan’s turn to present herself on December 8 before a special court in Bangalore hearing the Rs 66 crore case against CM Jayalalitha. Sasikala is the second most important person in Tamil Nadu whose influence is beginning to spread. One example, sources say, is the meteoric turnover at Midas Golden Distillery, owned by her associates, since Jayalalitha came back to power. Back in April 2006, former CM Karunanidhi, had charged the then Jayalalitha government of “favouritism” towards Midas, “run by benamis of Sasikala, resulting in a huge revenue loss to the exchequer”. Karunanidhi had also alleged that the company, formed in 2001(when Jayalalitha was the CM) was given unbridled production capacity unlike the other distilleries.
Incidentally, like CM Jayalalitha, who made several attempts to dodge a personal appearance before the court by making futile applications for exemption before the Supreme Court, Sasikala too tried but failed in trying to evade putting in an appearance. In fact the counsel for the prosecution told the judge that hers were “lame excuses only to seek adjournment and delay”. Sasikala’s application seeking eight weeks to record her statement, on the grounds that she was not conversant with English or Kannada but could only speak in Tamil was rejected by Judge B M Mallikarjuniah. So was her application that written questions in Tamil be given to her. The judge ruled that questions would be translated in Tamil in the court and she would have to answer. Jayalalitha answered 1336 questions during four days in court in two phases, how many the Chinnamma will have to field will have to be seen.
