India ex-film star politician holds crisis talks in jail

Jayalalithaa, 66, who enjoys a cult following in the southern state of Tamil Nadu that she has long governed, was jailed for four years on Saturday over the case that has lasted nearly two decades.

A judge in the southern city of Bangalore found Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu's chief minister, guilty of amassing illegal wealth in the case that she has always dismissed as being politically motivated.

She spent the night in a cell in Bangalore's main jail in a extraordinary transformation of fortunes for the woman known as "Amma" (Mother) to her fans, whose ministers have been known to prostrate themselves before her.

Jayalalithaa, who was also fined one billion rupees ($16 million), met in jail with a group of senior lawmakers and officials from her All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) about choosing a new chief minister, a party official said.

Jayalalithaa is now disqualified from holding the top job, although she is expected to appeal to the High Court this week to seek her release from jail, according to reports.

"As our supremo, Jayalalithaa has advised cabinet colleagues and party leaders to convene a meeting of all lawmakers in Chennai later in the day and elect a leader to serve as our chief minister," the AIADMK official told AFP.

"Jayalalithaa wants a new leader to take over at the earliest for continuation of administration and to assuage the hurt feelings of lawmakers and thousands of party cadres across the state over the verdict," said the official, who did not want to be named.

Jayalalithaa was still expected to play a key role from behind bars in running Tamil Nadu as well as the AIADMK, the third biggest force in the national parliament.

Jayalalithaa was charged in 1997, when police seized assets including 28 kilos (62 pounds) of gold, 750 pairs of shoes and more than 10,000 saris in a raid on her home in Chennai.

Prosecutors said her assets, which reportedly included two 1,000-acre estates in the lush tropical state she ran, were vastly disproportionate to her earnings during her first term as chief minister from 1991 to 1996.

Protests broke out Saturday in Chennai and Bangalore, with reports of supporters burning several buses and attacking media crews.

But some commentators hailed the verdict, saying it proved India's notoriously slow legal system could still eventually bring justice -- even to top politicians.

"At every stage, attempts were made to obstruct and delay the judicial process," the Hindu said in an editorial on its front page.

"It is commendable that the prosecution and the judges involved in this case stood up to the pressures and upheld the principles of justice and fairness."