Chennai:
Jayalalithaa has said the three convicts sentenced to hang on September 9 for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi should appeal to the Indian President again. The men are also appealing to the Madras High court against President Pratibha Patil's decision to reject their mercy pleas.
Jayalalithaa pointed out that once the country's President rejects mercy petitions, the Chief Minister cannot intervene. "I am powerless," she said in the Assembly this morning. Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan had written to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister requesting her to commute their death sentence.
Almost all major political parties, barring the AIADMK and the Congress, have appealed to the Chief Minister to intervene to save the life of the three.
Jayalalithaa's political rival, M Karunanidhi of the DMK, even made a public appeal today to save the three convicts.
"The three convicts have spent 20 years in jail. Even late Rajiv Gandhi would have commuted them in a similar situation. Those who were commuted to life lead a reformed life," Karunanidhi said.
Charging the DMK president M Karunanidhi with adopting "double standards" and enacting a "fake drama", Jayalalithaa said Karunanidhi, when he was Chief Minister, had recommended to the Governor to reject the mercy petitions of the three.
Earlier this month, President Patil formally rejected their mercy petitions, leading to the announcement that they would hang at the Vellore jail in September. The Supreme Court sentenced them to death by hanging in 1991.
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated at an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in May 1991.