politics disputes differences and detentions were constant in the political world in the year thats drawing to a close yet party leaders found time for a little bit of governance 1 rajiv case convicts fate hangs in balance their fate has been hanging in balance for two decades as the state and centre go to and fro about clemency for the three men who assassinated former prime minister rajiv gandhi a suicide bomber from the ltte killed rajiv gandhi and 14 others during an election rally in sriperumbudur on may 21 1991 four of the conspirators in the plotmurugan chinna shanthan g perarivalan and nalini sriharanwere sentenced to death in 1999 nalinis sentence was later commuted to life the three men appealed for clemency and in august this year president pratibha patil on the recommendation of the home ministry finally rejected their appeals for mercy paving the way for their execution the authorities fixed september 9 as the date for the hanging but the madras high court issued a stay of eight weeks in response to a petition to commute the sentences to life imprisonment the defence lawyers argued that the president had unduly delayed a decision on the appeals for 11 years the movement for their clemency gained strength in tamil nadu and the assembly adopted a resolution recommending commutation of the death sentence on august 30 the resolution moved by chief minister jayalalithaa urged the president to take into consideration tamil sentiments and political leaders views the high court has issued a notice to the centre and a decision is still pending 2 after a great comeback jayalalithaa sets about reversing dmk govt schemes she spent five long years including several months in the hills of the nilgiris gathering her forces and strategising her come back and in the assembly elections this may jayalalithaas aiadmk swept to power with a majority of 150 seats she fought the election in alliance with vijayakanths dmdk and the left and the alliance won 199 seats but she decided to leave them behind for the local body elections jayalalithaas campaign focussed on the dmks corruption and misrule the 2g scam ably aiding her cause though she herself was still facing a disproportionate assets case she promised free laptops mixies grinders and cows and goats offers that were grabbed by voters and then headed to the centre asking for grants to fund her generous welfare schemes she also promised free green houses a new insurance scheme and increased gifts of gold to women and first generation graduates she set about determinedly reversing all of karunanidhis schemes and decisions starting with refusing to move into the new secretariat building that was constructed under his tenure and for which he had devoted much of his time and public money she either stopped or revised all his welfare schemes including free housing insurance and televisions and gave them labels of her own she inherited a setup that was short on funds and electricity now she