CHENNAI, DEC 29: Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today regretted that Prime Minister A B Vajpayee ``tolerated'' the charges of ``corruption'' against former chief minister and AIADMK General Secretary, J Jayalalitha, merely to stick to power.``I would not say that Vajpayee had approved the corruption of the Jayalalitha regime. If I say so then it would mean that he is also corrupt. He has merely tolerated the corruption,'' the chief minister told mediapersons at the Secretariat. He was reacting to a question on why the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) criticised the State government for indulging in ``witch-hunting'' against Jayalalitha with regard to corruption charges against her.Though the Prime Minister's Office, while criticising the State government, did not mention the individual's name, the circumstances and timing of the statement only point to Jayalalitha. On coming to know of such a statement from the PMO, he was worried that his hopes that Vajpayee would definitely uphold honesty in public lifehad been proved false.The recent developments in the appointment of special judges to try corruption cases against Jayalalitha and her erstwhile cabinet colleagues, had only exposed the stand of BJP, which claimed to be against corruption, since that party adopted different yardsticks for Jayalalitha and RJD president, Laloo Prasad Yadav.Stating that he was merely expressing his opinion on the BJP's stand against elimination of corruption and he did not want to go into the legal issues, Karunanidhi added that the legal luminaries would justify the validity of the special court and appointment of special judges at the Supreme Court.It was a known fact that Jayalalitha and her erstwhile Cabinet colleagues had made various attempts in the last over one year to stall the corruption cases against them, but now, as a last chance, the BJP Government had come to their rescue.Though he did not want to comment on the legal validity of the Special Courts as it would not be a good convention to speak aboutit, he would only like to point out that even the Additional Solicitor General had justified the setting up of such courts when he appeared on behalf of the Central Government at the Madras High Court. In fact, the High Court and the Supreme Court had upheld the constitution of the Special Courts. The Apex Court had even refused to stay the trial against Jayalalitha and her former colleagues.At this juncture, the submission made by the Attorney General in the Supreme Court recently that only the Centre had powers to set up Special Courts was not only surprising but also contradictory (to the Centre's earlier stand).
