Picture of 'convict' Jayalalithaa in govt office will set wrong precedent, says Stalin

Chennai: DMK Working President M K Stalin on Sunday said displaying portrait of a person “convicted” by the Supreme Court in government offices will only set a “wrong precedent”. The statement comes a day after he demanded removal of portraits of late party supremo Jayalalithaa from government offices, saying she was convicted in an assets case. [caption id=“attachment_3304120” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] MK Stalin. PTI[/caption] Rebel AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had yesterday slammed Stalin for his demand, which he said smacked of “political indecency”. In his response to Panneerselvam, Stalin said, “DMK only says that using a picture or a portrait of person who has been convicted by Supreme Court in government offices would set a wrong precedent.” “DMK does not interfere in the birthday celebrations or those who keep the pictures of J Jayalalithaa by AIADMK cadres,” he said in a statement. The opposition leader also questioned Panneerselvam on the steps that he took to probe the “mystery” behind the death of Jayalalithaa when he was holding the Chief Minister’s post. “Panneerselvam had said that there is a mystery behind the death of Jayalalithaa. When he was the Chief Minister, what are the initiatives he took to probe the mystery,” Stalin asked. DMK has been urging the AIADMK to take up legal procedures to identify the “mystery” behind the death of Jayalalithaa, he said. “But in order to safeguard their personal interests, they have started to show sudden loyalty to their party leader. The People of Tamil Nadu are monitoring these political sycophancy and they know the truth,” he said.