File photo of AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa.
J Jayalalithaa's arch rival, the 92 year-old DMK chief M Karunanidhi, has predicted that her "comeback to power can only be a dream. It would never be fulfilled."
Mr Karunanidhi took 12 days to react to Ms Jayalalithaa being arrested and jailed. He ended his silence at a party meeting held at the DMK headquarters in Chennai to take stock of the law and order situation in the state after the former Tamil Nadu chief minister was denied bail by the Karnataka High Court this week.
"Jayalalithaa trapped herself in the net. She created a situation as if there's none to question her. Today, Jayalalithaa reads her own fall as a lesson. Unknowingly, Jayalalithaa has helped us in lifting the Dravidian movement," the DMK chief said.
On September 27, Ms Jayalalithaa became the first sitting chief minister to be sent to jail after a special court in Bangalore found her guilty in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case. She is accused of using her first term as chief minister from 1991 to 1996 to accumulate vast wealth.
Ms Jayalalithaa has alleged political vendetta by the DMK, which pursued the case against her that led to her imprisonment.
The DMK chief had so far refrained from commenting on Ms Jayalalithaa's conviction amid speculation that he was doing so because his own daughter MK Kanimozhi and two other DMK leaders A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran too face corruption charges in other cases.
The DMK was routed by Ms Jayalalithaa's party the AIADMK in the 2011 state elections. She compounded that in general elections this year by winning 36 of Tamil Nadu's 39 seats. The DMK was wiped out, winning no seat.
Ms Jayalalithaa's conviction meant that as per last year's landmark Supreme Court order, she was immediately disqualified from office. Tamil Nadu votes for a new government in 2016 and if her conviction is not set aside, Ms Jayalalithaa will not be able to contest.
Her lawyers are expected to move the Supreme Court today for bail.