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STATES: TAMIL NADU
Settling Old Scores
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FIRING LINE: Karunanidhi and Stalin fear trouble
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Jayalalitha may
need more evidence and more time to really put the DMK men in the dock.
But it's not for lack of trying. Immediately after her swearing in, she
proclaimed, "My government will not be vindictive." Three days
later former deputy speaker Ilamvazhuthi was arrested. Next Devrajan was
picked up for attempting to extort money from a Bangalore-based businessman.
Ilamvazhuthi's is a telling story. Barely an
hour before the polling ended in Tamil Nadu on May 10, three vehicles
loaded with armed men came to a screeching halt in front of the DMK's
election office in the Egmore constituency, where the then deputy speaker
was a candidate. For the next 20 minutes, complete mayhem reigned as sword-wielding
"commandos" loyal to AIADMK-front candidate John Pandiyan got
to work. A terrified Ilamvazhuthi narrowly escaped by scaling a wall.
The police, led by then city commissioner P.
Kalimuthu, swung into action and arrested Pandiyan the same evening. Two
days later, as the initial election results came in, the tide turned.
The city police commissioner's phone went dead, a precursor to his transfer.
Pandiyan, lodged in the central prison, "got more respect",
as an aide put it.
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Amma On The Rampage
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# Set to arrest Stalin, Chennai's mayor and
Karunanidhi's son on charges of bribery in connection with a radial
road project.
# Wants to revive 25-year-old, Emergency-era
cases of corruption against Karunanidhi, despite legal advisers
telling her that these are "weak".
# Arrested former deputy speaker Ilamvazhuthi
on grounds of rioting on poll day. He has been beaten up by the
police and his AIADMK rival has been freed.
# Arrested former MP Parasuraman following
a contractor's complaint alleging extortion, kidnapping and ransom
demands of Rs 45 lakh.
# Had recreation club belonging to B.
Renganathan, a political rival, raided because the club was open
after 11 p.m. Arrested 12 people including Renganathan's aide Thomas
Selvaraj.
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Soon after the AIADMK was declared victorious,
a complaint filed by one of Pandiyan's booth agents was invoked against
Ilamvazhuthi. Two more sections were added to the fir to ensure a non-bailable
warrant. The former deputy speaker was arrested and sent to Vellore prison.
On May 29, when Ilamvazhuthi tried to speak to waiting reporters in the
court premises, Assistant Commissioner of Police Rengarajan hit him on
the head. Ilamvazhuthi collapsed.
Jayalalitha could well have been settling an
old score. During her previous tenure (1991-96), Jayalalitha had alleged
that the then governor M. Chenna Reddy had misbehaved with her. Ilamvazhuthi
had ridiculed the charges. "Had you been Kannagi," he had told
Jayalalitha, "Tamil Nadu would have been gutted by now. But you happen
to be just an actor. And you are just acting."
The reference was to a legendary Tamil heroine
who destroyed a city after its king unfairly put her husband to death.
That's quite an act to follow. The coming days will show if Jayalalitha
is up to it.
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