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Jaya's corruption cases transferred

VIJAY SIMHA

NEW DELHI, FEB 7: Moving quickly to stall Congress-backed moves to topple the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government, the Centre has transferred all corruption cases against AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha from the special courts hearing them to two other judges.

Apparently motivated by political compulsions, the Union Government issued an extraordinary gazette notification on February 5, the day Defence Minister George Fernandes met Jayalalitha in Chennai, transferring the cases in exercise of powers conferred under Section 3(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The gazette notification limits the state government's special judges, S Sambandam, V Radhakrishnan and K Anbazhagan, who were trying the 46 corruption cases against Jayalalitha, to now merely pursuing cases being looked into by the CBI. The notification said offences investigated by the Vigilance Director, the anti-corruption bureau and the Crime Branch CID would now be taken up by Chennai's civil and sessions judges respectively.Clearly, the move givesJayalalitha a much sought after respite which the Centre is hoping will reflect on its own ties with the AIADMK which had turned rocky yet again over the last few days. The AIADMK chief was getting restive over continuing to support the Vajpayee Government after repeated attacks on minorities and the recent price hikes of sugar, rice, wheat and LPG.

Things turned sour on February 2 when after a stormy meeting of the ruling coalition's coordination committee in Delhi, Jayalalitha refused to sign the panel's joint statement which said allies of the Government must stop airing grievances publicly and limit them in future to coordination committee meetings.

Jayalalitha didn't attend the meeting and said later in Chennai the same day that the statement was ``very unreasonable, controversial and contained unwarranted uncalled for observations''. She added signing it would mean ``self-indictment'' citing the ``most objectionable part'' as the promise not to voice grievances in public. Even by the AIADMK chief'sstandards this was strong stuff and it forced Vajpayee and Fernandes to initiate peace moves once more.

The Congress was working behind the scenes with Jayalalitha and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on pulling the government down and Jayalalitha's reaction was just what the Centre was dreading. Speculation was rife that the Vajpayee Government would fall around the time the Budget session of Parliament is to commence, February 22. This is still doing the rounds but Vajpayee is now hoping the crisis has blown over after he has acceded to one of AIADMK's main demands of transferring the corruption cases.Fernandes was rushed to Chennai on February 5 where he met Jayalalitha in her Pose Garden residence for 45 minutes. The result: The extraordinary gazette notification by which the Government hopes to thwart Congress moves for an alternative government. Reactions to the sudden move were predictable today. While a senior BJP leader, who is hoping to make it to the Vajpayee ministry some day, said thiswould help the Government last its full term, a top Congress leader said it showed the BJP's desperation. ``It's not over yet. As you know, Jayalalitha and Mamata are unhappy about a lot of things,'' he said. The corruption cases are said to be difficult for Jayalalitha to tide over and the ruling DMK government in Chennai is banking on them to deal a mortal blow to the AIADMK chief's career. They include the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case involving Jayalalitha, her friend Sasikala, her erstwhile foster son V N Sudhakaran and Sasikala's relative Ilavarasi.

Disproportionate wealth cases were also being heard against former union minister S R Muthiah and many others, while the ``coal case'' implicated Jayalalitha, two of her former ministers and many bureaucrats. Then there is the ``Pleasant Stay hotel'' case, the Rs 10.16 crore colour television case and the saree and dhoti scam, all involving the AIADMK chief.

The Centre's step is also expected to end the battle between the Vajpayee and theKarunanidhi Governments on the issue over who had jurisdiction over the matter. However, there is no certainty about the political harvest the Centre hopes to reap. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has stepped up her moves on the Centre and has moved from saying she will not topple the Government to asking her partymen to be ready to form their own government. According to senior Congress leaders, discussions between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress on the one hand and between 10, Janpath and Poes Garden on the other have gone beyond the initial stage. Parliament's Budget session is still a fortnight away and nothing is certain at this stage on whether the BJP will be able to present its second Budget. The transfer of the corruption cases, however, is likely to make it difficult for Jayalalitha go for the kill immediately.

Court on the case