Now Jaya goes to CAG against A-G

After releasing full-page advertisements in national dailies, denouncing the state’s Accountant-General (Audit), T. Theethan, the J. Jayalalithaa government today lodged a formal complaint with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) against the official for his ‘‘unseemly conduct’’. The reason for the Chief Minister’s ire: Theethan had held a media conference on July 31, just after the Assembly adjourned sine die, and released data on the ‘‘bad’’ financial state in Tamil Nadu.

Yesterday, a furious Jayalalithaa had released a press statement, spending at least half a crore, threatening breach of privilege action against Theethan and ‘‘all concerned’’.

Today, in her letter to the CAG, Vijayendra N. Kaul, Jayalalithaa accused the A-G of having ‘‘assisted the Opposition parties in launching a diabolically malicious campaign of maligning the fair name of her government’’. She asked the CAG to ‘‘enquire into the matter and take appropriate action so that such crude attempts to ruin the image of of my government do not recur’’. The A-G, she charged, had furnished ‘‘information in a manner’’ that enabled the press to boldly say that her government ‘‘is responsible for a revenue loss of Rs 11,000 crore in the period 2001-02 to 2003-04’’.