Chennai:
J Jayalalithaa has called a meeting of her AIADMK legislators next Friday amid reports that she is ready to return as chief minister after being acquitted in a corruption case this week.
The party announced today that Ms Jayalalithaa will meet all legislators on May 22 at 7 am. She is likely to be elected leader of the legislature party as a lead-in to her takeover.
"23rd is an auspicious day and we hope Amma would be sworn in a day after the meet," said a party leader.
Sources say Ms Jayalalithaa is hoping for some clarity by then on whether the Karnataka government will file an appeal in the high court against her acquittal.
Special Public Prosecutor BV Acharya told NDTV yesterday that he had recommended to the Karnataka government to file an appeal. Mr Acharya has flagged what he claims is a major miscalculation by the judge in clearing Ms Jayalalithaa of charges of accumulating wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income during her first term as chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
The Karnataka High Court cancelled Jayalalithaa's conviction by a trial court and four-year jail sentence saying that she had been incorrectly charged and unaccounted wealth was about 8 per cent of her income, which was "within the permissible limit of 10 per cent".
But the prosecutor alleges that the judge miscalculated the former chief minister's loans and her illegal wealth is in fact, 76 per cent of her known income.
67-year-old Jayalalithaa has not made a single public appearance since the verdict on Monday, which saw delirious celebrations by her supporters in Tamil Nadu.
O Panneerselvam, who stepped in as chief minister after Jayalalithaa's conviction in September but has never used the office out of loyalty, is believed to be prepared to quit "anytime." He and 19 ministers went to her Poes Garden residence in Chennai on Wednesday.