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Jayalalithaa faces loss of face

As the political drama in Tamil Nadu dragged on into its fourth day, the state government headed by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram finds itself in a tight spot following the clever legal handling of the turmoil by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

DMK president and former chief minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi, whose application for bail was scheduled to be heard today (Tuesday) sprang a surprise when he announced through his lawyers that he will not apply for bail.

Simultaneously, Union ministers Murasoli Maran and T R Baalu have refused to accept their release orders, saying that they will remain in custody until the charges against them are either proved, or dropped.

This puts the Jayalalithaa government in a spot -- when the arrests were planned, it was expected that the various leaders would routinely apply for bail, and walk out. The idea underlying the arrests was to humiliate the DMK leaders, by way of pay-back for Jayalalithaa's own arrest during the DMK regime.

Had the DMK president and the Union ministers walked out on bail, the furore would have died down, and it would have been business as usual. By remaining in jail, Karunanidhi, Maran and Baalu have effectively painted Jayalalithaa into a corner. And in the process, ensured that the political crisis precipitated by Jayalalithaa will now be prolonged, to the detriement of the state government's image.

More even than the imprisonment of Karunanidhi, it is the incarceration of the two Union ministers that is proving to be a major headache for the AIADMK government and its tempestuous head. By remaining in jail, Maran and Baalu have thrown down the gauntlet, challenging Jayalalithaa and her police force to either prove the charges against them, or drop the case.

If Jayalalithaa opts to drop the charges against the two Union ministers, it is a huge slap in the face for a lady who hates to be shown up. If she refuses to drop the charges, it invites the Centre -- and it pays to note that she has already managed to run the Centre the wrong way -- to take action under Article 355 of the Constitution.

Jayalalithaa, who returned to Madras on Tuesday morning after her whirl-wind tour of temples in Kerala, immediately entered into consultations with her legal aides to decide on the next step. AIADMK sources indicate that the TN chief minister has also consulted legal experts like former West Bengal governor Siddharth Shankar Ray.

The DMK leadership, meanwhile, is -- surprisingly, for a party on the receiving end of concerted police and government action -- sitting pretty. "We have not created the crisis," former DMK leader Aladi Aruna told rediff.com. "It is the AIADMK government that has created the political turmoil in Tamil Nadu. It is now their duty to resolve it."

He pointed out that the 78-year-old Karunanidhi, despite his ill-health, has decided to remain in jail because he believes the charges against him are "fabricated and politically motivated."

To further push the state government on this, the DMK's legal cell has moved an application before the Madras police, seeking copies of the FIR, the arrest card, and the remand report on Maran and Baalu. Aruna said the party will sumbit copies of these documents to the Lok Sabha Speaker, since both Maran and Baalu are members of the Lower House.

Sources indicate that the police are reconciled to the prospect that they will have to drop charges against the two Union ministers, and are merely waiting for orders from the Chief Minister's office.

Jayalalithaa for her part is understoood to be vacillating, and exploring every legal avenue to see if she can get out of the situation without the massive loss of face she will suffer if charges are dropped.

Meannwhile, the DMK opened up another front when it wrote to the National Human Rights Commission, requesting that body to visit jails across Tamil Nadu where, the DMK points out, thousands of DMK workers have been illegally detained by the Jayalalithaa government.

Ironically, thus, Jayalalithaa's attempt to humiliate her political rival appears to have boomeranged.

Karunanidhi's Arrest: The Complete Coverage

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