No festival for Amma

Former chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalitha, whose petition seeking bail will come up for hearing on Tuesday, did not celebrate Dasara festival on Friday and Saturday.

Parappana Agrahara prison sources said she has also called upon her supporters and former Cabinet colleagues not to visit her at the prison.

The AIADMK chief spent the day reading newspapers on Friday and Saturday, sources said. A senior Prison official said Jayalalitha did not celebrate the festival. The official said Jayalalitha, who is lodged in the VVIP cell in the women’s barrack, has met other convicts in the case V N Sudhakaran, Sasikala and Elavarasi on four occasions since September 27. The jail official said Jayalalitha reads two English and two Tamil newspapers every day.

DIG (Prisons) P M Jayasimha said several MPs, ministers, MLAs and supporters have been visiting the prison premises with a hope to obtain permission to meet their leader. On Saturday several supporters were waiting at the prison premises.

 However, Jayalalitha has sent out a message to her supporters not to meet her. “She has also given a message to the people of Tamil Nadu to maintain peace in the state. She is being treated like any other prisoner. We have not provided anything special, however, we are taking extra care about her health conditions,” an official said.