Chennai : Toeing the line of a Supreme Court verdict banning the images of chief ministers and ministers in government advertisements, the Jayalalithaa government started releasing advertisements in newspapers from Monday, on the four years of governance and it did not carry images of the chief minister.
Instead, the full page advertisements issued by the directorate of public relations and information stuck to the TN government’s emblem prominently, along with the phrase, “Glorious rule of four years; Amma’s rule forever”, coined to coincide with the celebrations.
Last week, the TN government had filed a review petition on the Historic Supreme Court verdict, which banned photos of chief ministers, ministers and governors in official advertisements in newspapers and on television, but allowed pictures of the President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India.
While the verdict has been hailed by various sections as it curbed display of pictures of political leaders at the cost of taxpayers’ money, the TN government saw it as an interference of judiciary in policy decisions of the executive.
In its historic judgment, the Supreme Court had said that taxpayers’ money cannot be spent on building “personality cults” of political leaders and restrained photographs of even Chief Ministers as they diverted attention from policies.
