ChennaiTown.com

AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday took strong exception to the State cabinet’s “unilateral decision” to unveil portraits of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in the old and new Assembly halls.

In a statement, she strongly condemned the cabinet’s decision, terming it as one aimed at violating the longcherished Assembly traditions and democratic norms.

“When the AIADMK comes back to power some time next year, this type of anti-traditional acts will be a given a go by,’’ she noted.

The former chief minister said the decision to unveil the portrait of Karunanidhi was anti-democratic as the cabinet had unilaterally decided without consulting the opposition or even their alliance partners.

“Further, nobody has demanded the unveiling of the DMK chief ’s portrait in the Assembly halls,’’ she said.

Veteran CPM leader WR Varadarajan died due to drowning, according to the post-mortem report. The death was shrouded in mystery ever since a TV channel claimed that there was more than met the eye in the case.

The medical team at the Government Royapettah Hospital compared the fluids inside Varadarajan’s body with samples of water collected from the Porur lake, where it was alleged that he drowned.

The tests showed that there were no toxins in the body, the official police release said.

There were no strangulation marks on his neck and the stomach was full of water, the police said quoting the postmortem report.

“I have not committed any crime,” Swami Nithyananda claimed on Sunday, in his first public response to the video CD showing him in a compromising position with an actress.

Addressing his devotees in a five-minute VCD, copies of which were distributed to the media by his lawyer here, the Swami alleged that calumnies and rumours were being spread against him and the ‘Gnanapeetam’.

“While I am receiving email, phone calls and letters from devotees and friends, expressing their support and affection, I can see that they are worried and concerned,” he said.

Swami Nithyananda moved a civil court in the city on Wednesday to restrain the Sun TV from telecasting any video clippings and newspapers from publishing any article or photograph about him.

The XV Assistant Judge A Manickavasagar of the city civil court in Chennai ordered notice and posted the petition for further hearing on March 8. The newspapers and a magazine the godman wanted restrained are Dinakaran, Tamil Murasu and Nakkeeran.

In his petition, Nithyananda submitted that he had 45 lakh devotees in 17 countries and was conducting free medical camps, besides providing education to the needy.