Jayalalitha, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, will continue to stay in jail for now as the Karnataka High Court adjourned a hearing on her bail plea, today [Tuesday]. It will only be taken up on Monday.
Jayalalithaa had filed a bail application citing that full arguments were not heard and the fine imposed was too heavy.
As she spent the third night in jail the volatile situation in her home state began limping back to normalcy.
Transportation resumed on the roads and there were no reports of violence. Her trusted aide also took over as the new chief minister. Interestingly, most of the ministers broke down while taking oath. Pictures of them are circulating on social media with sarcastic captions. One @firstpostin read:
"Mirror mirror on the wall. Who's the saddest of them all? Which AIADMK MLA is saddest at their swearing in ceremony?"
Meanwhile, the flow of visitors to meet her in person continues unabated. Earlier on Sunday, security officials at the prison refused to allow her ministers take a wired chair for her as she suffers from back ache, reported thehindu.com
Jayalalitha’s party men thronged the jail premises seeking permission to meet their leader. They raised slogans and police had to chase the crowd away using mild force to bring the situation under control.
On Saturday, the three-time Chief Minister was sentenced to four years’ simple imprisonment and a Rs.100-crore fine was imposed on her for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The three co-accused were sentenced to four years’ imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 10 crore each.
Meanwhile, co-accused V. Sudhakaran was admitted to the hospital in the prison after he complained of unease on Sunday morning.
Jayalalitha in jail, Day 2: Prisoner No 7402 refuses to eat jail food
Jayalalitha who was sentenced to four years in jail on Saturday after being found guilty of amassing wealth of more than $10m which was unaccounted for during her first term as Chief Minister between 1991 and 1996, spent her second night in Bangalore jail as prisoner number 7402.
The second day saw her in the jail hospital after she complained of increasing sugar levels, reported ToI.
Her day began at 5.30am with limewater and a morning walk within the jail premises. After which, she read five newspapers – three Tamil and two English – and underwent a regular medical check-up.
Breakfast, comprising idli, vada and sambhar, was brought from outside. Jail authorities reportedly gave her permission to have home-cooked food as she didn’t want to have pulav served in prison. However, her co-accused had prison food. While, for lunch she had chapatti and curd rice.
Earlier on Saturday night she had refused to eat prison food and chose fruits instead.
She is lodged in a separate cell [Number 23] in the women’s wing and has managed to get more facilities than what the prison manual authorizes. The 66-year-old former chief minister has a 12x8 sq ft enclosure, with two chairs, a table and a cot, while the rule provides only 50sqft of ground space per prisoner. She also has a fan and television and a multi-layered security ring, including women guards.
Similarly, she wasn’t wearing the prisoner’s uniform and was not seen working, a source was quoted as saying.
28kg gold, 750 pairs of shoes, 10,000 saris... now Jayalalithaa in jail, Day 1
Former film star Jayalalithaa Jayaram, one of India's most colourful and controversial politicians, held crisis talks inside jail on Sunday after her conviction in a corruption case, an aide said.
Jayalalithaa, 66, who enjoys a cult following in the southern state of Tamil Nadu that she has long governed, was jailed for four years on Saturday over the case that has lasted nearly two decades.
A judge in the southern city of Bangalore found Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu's chief minister, guilty of amassing illegal wealth in the case that she has always dismissed as being politically motivated.
She spent the night in a cell in Bangalore's main jail in a extraordinary transformation of fortunes for the woman known as "Amma" (Mother) to her fans, whose ministers have been known to prostrate themselves before her.
Jayalalithaa, who was also fined one billion rupees ($16 million), met in jail with a group of senior lawmakers and officials from her All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) about choosing a new chief minister, a party official said.
Jayalalithaa is now disqualified from holding the top job, although she is expected to appeal to the High Court this week to seek her release from jail, according to reports.
"As our supremo, Jayalalithaa has advised cabinet colleagues and party leaders to convene a meeting of all lawmakers in Chennai later in the day and elect a leader to serve as our chief minister," the AIADMK official told AFP.
"Jayalalithaa wants a new leader to take over at the earliest for continuation of administration and to assuage the hurt feelings of lawmakers and thousands of party cadres across the state over the verdict," said the official, who did not want to be named.
Jayalalithaa was still expected to play a key role from behind bars in running Tamil Nadu as well as the AIADMK, the third biggest force in the national parliament.
Earlier report:
An Indian court on Saturday convicted Jayalalithaa Jayaram, a former film star who became one of the country's most colourful and controversial politicians, in a corruption case that has dragged on for nearly two decades.
The chief minister of the prosperous southern state of Tamil Nadu was charged with amassing illegal wealth in 1997, when police seized assets including 28 kilos (62 pounds) of gold, 750 pairs of shoes and more than 10,000 saris in a raid on her home.
Prosecutors said her assets, which reportedly included two 1,000-acre estates in the lush tropical state she ran, were vastly disproportionate to her earnings during her first term as chief minister, which ran from 1991 to 1996.
Jayalalithaa was found guilty of "amassing wealth disproportionate to known sources of her income," prosecutor G. Bhavani Singh told reporters outside the makeshift court in the southern city of Bangalore where she was convicted.
Singh said the judge may sentence Jayalalithaa later Saturday and that she could face up to seven years in jail.
But Indian media speculated that Jayalalithaa, who runs the third largest party in India's national parliament, would have to resign as chief minister after the verdict regardless of the sentence.
Hundreds of party loyalists had come to Bangalore to show support for their leader, and many were in tears after the verdict.
"She will come out victorious, she will come out stronger," one supporter told NDTV news channel.
The 66-year-old politician enjoys huge popularity in Tamil Nadu, a manufacturing hub, where she is known to her fans simply as "Amma" (Mother).
Her AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) party emerged as third biggest force in the national parliament after winning 37 of the 39 parliamentary seats in the state in this year's general election.
Police on alert
Jayalalithaa and her supporters have always maintained that corruption charges against her were political motivated.
She has earned the loyalty of people in the southern state with a series of highly populist schemes including an "Amma canteen" that provides lunch for just three rupees (five cents), although she has also drawn accusations of an autocratic governing style.
Her comments during the election campaign that it was time for a change in New Delhi raised speculation that her party could act as kingmaker to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, although in the end, his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won an outright majority.
Nevertheless, she is regarded as an ally of the prime minister, and her conviction will come as a blow to the government.
Jayalalithaa took over the leadership of the AIADMK party after the death of its founder M. G. Ramachandran -- her on-screen love interest in multiple movies.
She is now on her third term as chief minister of Tamil Nadu, where she draws massive support, and police were on high alert for protests after Saturday's verdict.
Three close associates of Jayalalithaa were also found guilty of corruption, Singh said.
All four defendants were present when the judge delivered the verdict in a makeshift courtroom set up at the main jail in Bangalore, India's southern technology hub.
The case was held in Bangalore rather than Tamil Nadu for security reasons and there was a heavy police presence as the verdict was delivered, with authorities fearing clashes between rival political supporters.