Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker unveils Jayalalithaa's portrait; DMK, Congress boycott

CHENNAI: The affair of unveiling a portrait of former Tamil Nadu chief Minister J Jayalalithaa inside the state Assembly split the political spectrum along lines of propriety, with the ruling AIADMK faction hailing the leader as a "powerful figure in politics," and arch-rival DMK condemning it for celebrating someone convicted of amassing wealth beyond known sources of income.

While the state Congress unit joined in the boycott of the event announced by the DMK -- the national party is in an alliance with MK Stalin's DMK -- the BJP took a more disapassionate view of the idea. State president of the BJP Tamilisai Soundararajan said there was little reason to hark on the taint of corruption that dogged Jayalalithaa for decades, and that one should view her contributions to the state and as a reigning power in politics.

The DMK, however, was not pleased.


In a Tweet, the working president of the party MK Stalin questioned why the Assembly took exception to some of his legislators bringing packets of Gutkha into the Assembly to prove how easily the banned substance was available, when it had no qualms unveiling the portrait of a convict inside the assembly.

The DMK moved a petition Monday morning seeking directions from the court to the Speaker to remove the portrait, similar in grounds of an earlier petition that sought removal of Jayalalithaa's pictures in the welfare schemes in view of her being an accused in the disproportionate assets case. J Anbazhagan, on whose behalf senior counsel P Wilson moved the case in court, told ET: "We are expecting this case to be heard by tomorrow."

Unfazed, the AIADMK had an array of speakers headed by chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to remember Jayalalithaa's welfare schemes. "Without pursuing a life of her own, Amma [Jayalalithaa] had had many achievements adorn her political life," the chief minister spoke in the Assembly. Among the achievements recounted are turning around the state's power deficit situation, establishing low-cost canteens across the state, announcing relief for farmers impacted by drought, subsidized two wheelers for workign women, and so on.