Even as rumours of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s health refuse to die down, former Supreme Court judge, Markendya Katju, on Monday threatened to appeal to the President of India to impose President’s rule in the State for the manner in which the State government and the police were arresting persons who were allegedly spreading rumours or raising questions about the AIADMK supremo’s health.
In an ‘open letter’ on Facebook to O. Panneerselvam, currently holding the Home portfolio, and the DGP of the State, he asked under what provisions of law were they arresting people who were allegedly spreading rumours about Ms. Jayalalithaa’s health. “Now, you are going too far. Under which provision of law are you doing this? Is this democracy or a dictatorship? Is there no freedom of speech in Tamil Nadu?” He also said: “If the government and police did not desist from these high-handed illegal and despotic acts, I will appeal to the President of India to impose President’s rule in Tamil Nadu under Article 356 of the Constitution on the ground that the Constitutional machinery has broken down in the state, and after President’s rule is imposed, all of you must be put up on trial and given harsh punishment, as was given to the Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials.”
Time for a positive spin
With no health bulletin on the CM’s health coming from Apollo on Monday too, some ‘positive’ rumours have been doing the rounds too. One such rumour had it that she would be discharged in a few days, and at any rate, before Diwali. As much as everyone wants to speculate on the Chief Minister’s health, a few government officials who were at Apollo even went to the extent of setting a date for her discharge. Considering that not many people have any access whatsoever to the Chief Minister, it seems a few in the government machinery are on an overdrive to put out positive information.
DMK under attack
AIADMK spokesperson C.R. Saraswathi attacked the DMK as she emerged from Apollo Hospitals on Monday. She flayed the party for taking part in the protests seeking the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board. “They were part of the Centre for 20 years and yet they did nothing for resolution of the dispute,” she hit out.
Stalin faces flak
DMK treasurer and the Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin also came under fire from AIADMK’s IT wing secretary G. Ramachandran. “I condemn Mr. Stalin’s statement that the AIADMK and the police are working together to arrest people spreading rumours (about Jayalalithaa’s health). It is my responsibility to report such cases. The police are just doing their job. We do not target any political party,” he said. Mr. Stalin had alleged that the police and the AIADMK’s IT wing were targeting and harassing DMK party cadre on the pretext of arresting those making defamatory remarks against the Chief Minister.
A lean day
Monday turned out to be a lean day in terms of high-profile visitors. Apart from the regular visitors from the AIADMK, including S.P. Velumani, members of the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam visited the hospital. Tamilar Desiya Munnani president Pazha Nedumaran was stopped at the hospital gates for a few minutes and he patiently waited in his car before being allowed inside.
(W ith inputs from T.K. Rohit, Sangeetha Kandavel, Deepu Sebastian Edmond, R. Srikanth, Udhav Naig, Aloysius Xavier Lopez )
