Even as a battery of lawyers are holding brainstorming sessions in Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai to chalk out strategies to get bail for former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, incarcerated at the Parappana Agrahara Jail in Bangalore following her sentencing in the Disproportionate Assets (DA) case, leaders of the rudderless AIADMK are planning to anoint her as chairperson of an advisory council to the Government of Tamil Nadu.
A senior lawyer assisting Jayalalithaa in the case told The Pioneer that the chairperson to the advisory council would be similar to the National Advisory Council constituted by the UPA Government in 2004 after Sonia Gandhi’s refusal to take over as Prime Minister. The Congress president was appointed by the party as the chairperson of the NAC, which was a kind of super Cabinet with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking her nod on several policy issues.
Confirming this, Rajya Sabha MP and senior lawyer Navaneethakrishnan said a team of lawyers is working out the modalities. Navaneethakrishnan has been camping in Bangalore since last Saturday in order to be available to Amma at short notice. Sources said Chief Minister Panneerselvam wants Jayalalithaa to be out on bail at the earliest and take over as the chairperson in order to guide him. As of now he is shuttling between Chennai and Bangalore.
“Once Amma comes out on bail, Cabinet meetings would be held at her Poes Garden residence. We can function with confidence only if Amma is around to give us directives and instructions. All we have to do is implement the directives issued by her," said a senior Minister.
Dr Syam Kumar, a senior lawyer familiar with the Constitution and provisions in legislative system told The Pioneer that there was nothing wrong in such an arrangement. "We have the Sonia-Manmohan experience before us. There is also the VS Achuthanandan-Pinarayi Vijayan experiment of Kerala (2006 to 2011). Though Achuthanandan was the Chief Minister, the real power was vested with Pinarayi Vijayan, the State secretary of the CPI(M)," said Dr Kumar.
However, since Jayalalithaa stands convicted she cannot enjoy the privileges Sonia enjoyed as Cabinet Minister as the head of the NAC. legal experts feel that Amma could head such a body if it is a party organ but not a Government office. He said it would be easy for the AIADMK to make such an arrangement as Amma does not have any kind of challenge from within her party.
"It is a one-woman party and Jayalalithaa's is the first and last word," said the lawyer.Party leaders feel that even if the court puts restrictions on Jayalalithaa's movements, nothing can prevent her from going to the people.
Jaya TV, the channel owned by the AIADMK which enjoys reasonable viewership, will come in handy for Jayalalithaa to communicate with the people.The Ministers are excited over the prospect of Cabinet meetings at Veda Nilayam, the Poes Garden residence of Amma. The kitchen there serves a variety of cuisines ranging from specially-flavoured lentil rasam to medu vadai. It is a different matter that she herself cannot attend such a meeting, for now.