Karnataka court to give Jayalalithaa verdict today

IANS/ChennaiAs the world was celebrating Mother’s Day yesterday, leaders and activists of Tamil Nadu’s ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam were praying that today should turn out to be lucky for their ‘Amma’ (mother) - party chief J Jayalalithaa.The Karnataka High Court will today deliver the judgment on the former Tamil Nadu chief minister’s appeal against her conviction in the Rs.660mn assets case.AIADMK cadres and leaders fondly address Jayalalithaa as ‘Amma’. “We are hoping for a positive result,” AIADMK spokesman Avadi Kumar said.If the court strikes down the lower court’s order it will give a big boost to Jayalalithaa and the government led by her AIADMK nearly a year ahead of assembly elections.Jayalalithaa challenged in the high court her conviction along with three others in the disproportionate assets case by a Bangalore trial court on September 27, 2014.The Bangalore court sentenced Jayalalithaa to four years in jail with a fine of Rs1bn.Besides Jayalalithaa, her aides N Sasikala, V N Sudhakaran and J Elasvarasi were sentenced by the trial court.Jayalalalithaa was forced to step down as the Tamil Nadu chief minister following her conviction.The disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa and her aides dates back to her first term as chief minister between 1991 and 1996. The case lasted about 18 years.High court judge C R Kumaraswamy had on March 11 reserved his judgment in the appeal. She was in prison for nearly 20 days before being released on bail on October 17. The Supreme Court on April 27 this year ruled that the appointment of special public prosecutor Bhavani Singh by the Tamil Nadu government to prosecute the case against Jayalalithaa was bad in law. The Karnataka government which was asked to prosecute the case by the top curt had subsequently presented written arguments through senior advocate B V Acharya.The new SPP in his arguments told the court that the entire proceedings in the appeals filed by Jayalalithaa and her three associates were “vitiated for the simple reason that there was no public prosecutor appointed by the state of Karnataka” during the appeals by the former chief minister and others.If today’s ruling goes in her favour, Jayalalithaa can become the chief minister again and within six months get elected to the assembly.There is also the possibility of the AIADMK government opting for a snap election to cash on the positive court verdict.“What will happen if the court strikes down the trial court order cannot be predicted now,” spokesman Kumar said.If that happens, the problems for the party would aggravate.Meanwhile AIADMK party leaders and cadres are performing special prayers in several temples in Tamil Nadu seeking divine intervention.Born in what was then known as Mysore (now part of Karnataka) on February 2, 1948, Jayalalithaa moved to Chennai with her mother, who started acting in movies.Jayalalithaa studied at the Bishop Cotton Girl’s High School in Bengaluru and another Christian convent, Church Park, in Chennai. A bright student, she ventured into acting, making her debut at age 16 in a Kannada movie.Her first Tamil movie was the memorable Vennira Aadai. But it was the grand success of Aayirathil Oruvan pairing with the legendary M G Ramachandran (MGR) that turned Jayalalithaa into a leading light of Tamil movie world.She has paired with almost all the leading Tamil heroes. She has acted in over 100 movies, mostly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.A charismatic leader who is fluent in Tamil, English and Hindi, a rare quality in Tamil Nadu politics, Jayalalithaa has also sung many songs and written several stories.