BJP president L.K. Advani today spent about an hour with Vijayendra Saraswati, the junior pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, discussing Saraswati’s arrest. Advani was driven straight from the Chennai airport to the Kanchi math this morning, accompanied by former BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu, BJP leaders Lalitha Kumaramangalam, L. Ganeshan, Tirunavukkarasu, C.P. Radhakrishnan and H. Raja. Advani refused to talk about his discussion with the junior pontiff, saying he would speak out at the BJP’s protest rally in Chennai later in the day. Advani went to Vellore to meet Jayendra Saraswati, who is being confined there for the remainder of his judicial remand, which will expire on November 26. Sources said that an extension would be sought. Confusion reigns at the Kanchi Kamakoyti Peetam, over moving the Supreme Court for bail. The battery of lawyers in Chennai and Kanchi briefing the math have yet to reach a consensus on moving a Special Leave Petition in the apex court. Some have advised the math that doing so may be tricky, with the lower and higher courts having found enough in the prosecution claims to deny bail and to send the seer to police custody. ‘‘If the SC dismisses our petition at this stage, that could close all doors,’’ one of the math’s lawyers said, adding that there was ‘‘some thinking’’ that options to move the Madras High Court — which had dismissed the bail plea — ought to be exhausted before thinking of moving the Supreme Court. Math sources, however, stressed that this did not mean that the Supreme Court option had been deferred or rejected. ‘‘We will come to a decision in due course,’’ they added. In the first small victory for the Math, the magistrate rejected the prosecution’s petition for extenstion of Jayendra Saraswati’s police custody by a day. The magistrate dismissed the plea saying there was nothing on record to warrant an extension of police custody.
