After being shorn of jewellery for 14 years, chief minister Jayalalithaa is now sporting a small diamond earring “at the behest of her party workers”.
Subsequent to police raids in her house in 1997, Ms Jayalalithaa had avowed to wear no jewellery, not even a wrist watch, until she was cleared of all corruption cases foisted on her by the then DMK government. Now that she scored a mammoth victory in the “people’s court”, the AIADMK chief has resumed wearing jewels, just a small diamond earring to start with.
“I was awaiting this question,” said a smiling Ms Jayalalithaa when queried on her new look. She said that she had started wearing earrings “at the insistence of her partymen” and wore a watch during the poll campaign to wrap them up on time.
She said a few women party workers who met her after the election results convinced her saying that people who hurled accusations at her were now facing charges of scams and legal actions. “My cadres even threatened to immolate themselves if I do not wear jewellery. To avoid any such untoward incidents and to keep them happy, I have started with these small earrings from May 14,” she said.
Clearing the air about helping the woman who sliced off her tongue after the AIADMK’s win, the chief minister stressed that she did not mean to encourage such acts. “That lady had two small children, an ailing mother, and no income. Her husband had deserted her. So I took care of her operation charges and gave her a job,” she explained.