AGARTALA, October 8 (TIWN): The Diwali festival of the so called ' Amma' of the South, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa will have to be celebrated behind the bars. The bail plea of the 'Amma' has been rejected by the court on 7th October and thus it is obvious that Jayalaithaa will have to remain behind the bars upto Diwali. Former CM of Tamil Nadu is accused of disproportionate assets case lodged by her rival party DMK accusing her of amassing disproportionate assets during her term as CM from 1991-1996. After many years the verdict has come with a severe blow to Amma, stripping her of Chief Minister’s crown, MLA seat, in a single day transformed her from Chief Minister to a convicted criminal carrying 4 yrs jail sentence.

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of jailed former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, abruptly ending frenzied celebrations by her supporters after one of her lawyers earlier said she had got conditional bail. Justice A.V. Chandrashekara, who heard Jayalalithaa's petition, also declined to suspend her four-year jail term even after Special Public Prosecutor G. Bhavani Singh submitted he had no objection to her bail application. The AIADMK leader was convicted and sentenced for four years and fined Rs.100 crore for corruption by a special court here Sep 27. "No sufficient grounds for suspension of the sentence. The Supreme Court clearly indicated that corruption violates human rights and leads to economic imbalance," the judge said in his interim order. The judge also found no prime facie ground for granting bail to the 66-year-old Jayalalithaa. Noted jurist Ram Jethmalani appeared for Jayalalithaa as defence counsel.

This verdict has certainly raised the important issue in Tripura ," Is Congress doing its duty as main opposition? Or is it playing the role of the B team of CPI(M) as it has done in past at West Bengal for many years due to 'Behind the doors agreement'. The question has become more relevant especially after so many scams revealed but still the so-called main opposition Congress has not yet taken any steps against the Left Front Govt.  Congress Party has not yet filed any Public Interest Litigation ( PIL) against Govt nor it has made any plea in the High Court demanding CBI probe in the ongoing scams  of MGNREGA and RMSA.

    Interestingly, the so called "Mr Clean CM" is too is silent in the ongoing corruptions as most of the accused belongs to his close coterie of aides like Bimal Chakraborty, FIR was filed and prime accused of 17 crore MGNREGA scam at Bisalgarh . But luckily for CPIM,  the opposition Congress in Tripura seems to be more careful in protecting the State Govt than to come to the power. When opposition DMK lodged the case against Jayalithaa, no one could have ever thought that 'Amma' will have to face such fate especially when she herself was the Chief Minister holding unparalleled power. Actually DMK has functioned as a real opposition in democracy. What is more interesting is that charges against Jayalaitha is about Rs 66 crore of disproportionate assets but in Tripura during the continuous rule of CPI(M) scams of more than Rs 125 crores have come to light already, in which from a Panchayat Secretary to BDO and from BDO to a DM, Ministers are  accused. But none of them is brought under scanner as no complaints were filed against the accused.

Tripura needs a thorough investigation by CBI and to bring all culprits under “Prevention of Corruption” Act.

     A top level Congress leader probably said the truth on Tuesday night, “Who will lodge complaint against corruption? Even a section of PCC leaders are now enjoying all such facilities that they can't even have if they are in power. Many of the PCC leaders themselves amassed immense wealth during this 21 years of CPIM rule. Isn't it a mystery?” Top leaders of CPI(M) and Congress are now protecting each other. Yes, at times they are making some show-off protests like meeting the DGP or Chief Secretary. This is simply an attempt to befool the common mass. What prevents Congress from filing a PIL in High Court instead of meeting the DGP or CS, who are learnt to be as the most trusted persons of ruling party ?  

It’s a painful fate for people of Tripura that no effective opposition, no effective national media to highlight enormous corruptions in govt departments.