TN state ministers remain absent from work after Jayalalithaa conviction

The News Minute | October 2, 2014 | 10:20 am ISTAs time dragged on after Saturday’s conviction of AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, the leader continued to garner support from party workers and organizations while Tamil Nadu state ministers remained absent from work. Even though O Panneerselvam, Tamil Nadu’s newest chief minister got down to work after his appointment on Monday, many ministers of the state government remained absent from work on Wednesday.In the aftermath of the conviction, government work has almost come to a standstill as most ministers remained absent from work, with many remaining in Bangalore, where former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa remains in jail, and others returning to Chennai, said The Times of India. After Saturday, every day some ministers have been seen near the Bangalore Central Jail premises, hanging around the jail gate making it appear as if it is their duty to be present. The Chief Minister Panneerselvam himself spent a whole day at the jail premises on Tuesday. Read Jayalalithaa gets support from different quarters; raises questions of contempt of courtAfter a number of organizations came out in support of the convicted leader, about 50 school heads of private schools protested the denial of bail for Jayalalithaa. Her bail plea has been pushed to October 7, to be heard by a regular Karnataka bench.The school heads also said that the judiciary was sending out a different message by denying Jayalalithaa bail, and that they must keep in mind the rights of women while considering the bail plea, said the report. The CM’s Vijayadasami greetings too had a hint of reference to his leader’s conviction when he said quoting from Bharathiar's poem `Panchali Sabadam', “Dharmathin vaazhvadhanai soodhu kavvum, dharmam marubadiyum vellum (Sometimes deceit overwhelms dharma, but dharma will prevail eventually),” said the report.