J Jayalalithaa's portrait unveiled in TN Assembly, DMK moves Madras HC for its removal

The portrait of former chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa was unveiled in Tamil Nadu Assembly hall on Monday. Hours later, the DMK moved the Madras High Court seeking its removal, stating that Jaya was found guilty by the Supreme Court in a Disproportionate Assets case.

Jayalalithaa's portrait, which is seven foot tall, shows her in her trademark green sari. It was unveiled by Speaker P Dhanapal in the presence of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam in a low-key event, which was boycotted by Opposition parties including DMK, Congress and IUML.

Addressing the gathering, Palaniswami said Jayalalithaa's fame would continue to exist as long as the Earth continues to exist. He said Jayalalithaa had restored the state's rights in the Cauvery river water issue in the dispute with Karnataka on sharing the river water. He said steps are being taken to build a memorial for Jayalalithaa.

DMK working president MK Stalin said had Jayalalithaa been alive, she would have been serving her time in Bengaluru prison along with her aide VK Sasikala and others. Jayalalithaa was the "number one" accused in the DA case and was convicted in the case. A trial court in Bengaluru had held Jayalalithaa, her close aide VK Sasikala and two others as guilty and convicted them. While the Karnataka High Court acquitted all of them, the apex court upheld the trial court's judgment. Since Jayalalithaa had died before apex court's order, she was not jailed while three others are serving their sentence in a jail in Karnataka.

Stalin said Jayalalithaa's portrait demeans the portraits of other leaders in the Assembly — portraits of former Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and others. Other parties including Left, DMDK and PMK also opposed the move to unveil Jayalalithaa's portrait while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in support of the government's action.

Meanwhile, senior advocate P Wilson who represents DMK MLA J Anbazhagan made an urgent submission before the first bench president over by chief justice Indira Banerjee seeking to remove Jayalalithaa's portrait. The CJ, however, advised Wilson to file a writ petition which will be taken up for hearing in the usual course on Tuesday.