POTA: Arrest warrants for 8 but Vaiko is spared; BJP snubs Amma

While the reasons for this are not clear yet, sources said the government is acting with ‘‘caution’’ given the public outcry over the move.

In fact, speaking to The Indian Express today, new BJP president Venkaiah Naidu said: ‘‘We don’t suscribe to Vaiko’s views on the LTTE but at the same time we don’t approve the use of POTA against a political leader who espouses the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils. I think she (Jayalalitha) has taken the argument too far. It will send wrong signals.’’

Sources said that although under POTA, the investigating officer is empowered to effect an arrest, the police here decided to seek warrants to apparently send a signal that their move is backed by a judicial order rather than a political diktat.

Said a leading civil rights lawyer: ‘‘The government is jittery that it might fumble at the first hurdle itself and see the arrest of Vaiko and others frowned upon by the higher judiciary.’’

Moreover, senior bureaucrats have reportedly advised the Chief Minister not to embark on the risky POTA course when there was no proof to show that Vaiko or his colleagues had harboured terrorists or instigated violence.

Though Jayalalitha has so far ignored them, the BJP’s support to Vaiko, although muted, is forcing her to rethink.