India's Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said on Tuesday that it is unfair to question the timing of the Supreme Court's judgement restoring the conviction of AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala in the disproportionate assets case.
"There is no need to read between the lines about the Supreme Court judgement's timing. The timing couldn't be more welcome," Rohatgi said in an interaction with India Today news channel.
Sasikala, a confidante of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, was aiming to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after the resignation of O. Panneerselvam, but her conviction in the disproportionate assets case has put paid to her plan.
She is now barred from contesting elections for 10 years. The case was pending in the apex court for over a year.
Rohatgi said there is "nothing unusual" in the Supreme Court upturning the Karnataka High Court judgement that acquitted Sasikala and Jayalalithaa in the case.
He dismissed speculations of the Centre pressurising the judiciary to give the judgement within a week.
He said the reversal of the high court judgement did not reflect any rot in the judiciary as the latter had stood up to far more important cases such as the unseating of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by the Allahabad High Court in 1975 for adopting unfair means in elections.
"I don't think this was a very important case. The court has far more important cases before it right now, such as terror-related cases and on the triple talaq," he said.
Rohatgi also denied any meddling by the Centre in the political situation in Tamil Nadu.
"It is a battle of succession within a party. What has the Centre got to do with it? In any case, the ruling party (at the Centre, that is BJP) is not a major player in that state," he said.
Rohatgi said he is sure that Tamil Nadu will have a government by this weekend.
--IANS
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