CHENNAI: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday rejected bail plea of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case, quoting the supreme court's ruling that cases involving corruption should be put on fast track.

The development comes as a massive setback for the former chief minister.

In a matter of less than half an hour Chennai, as also the rest of Tamil Nadu, went from celebration to protest, and relief to agony as news from Bangalore initially said that Jayalalithaa had been granted conditional bail, before it emerged that the bail plea had been rejected.

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As AIADMK workers across the state began a fresh round of protests, party MP and former advocate-general A Navaneethakrishnan said they are all waiting for Jayalalithaa to take a call on the next step. Asked whether Jayalalithaa would approach the apex court, the Rajya Sabha MP, a close aide of the former CM, told Governance Now, “We are awaiting Amma’s decision.”

As tempers ran high in Chennai and chief minister O Panneerselvam instructed the police to maintain law and order and asked party cadres to maintain calm and peace, reports of a poster put up by an expelled AIADMK party man in Chennai, threatening Kannadigas living in the state, created a stir. The poster carried the names of several prominent party leaders, including social welfare minister B Valarmathi.

"This has been done by an expelled functionary KC Vijay. This was done without our knowledge," AIADMK South Chennai (North) district AIADMK secretary VP Kalairajan was quoted by PTI.

Kalairajan said the party has ordered for immediate removal of such posters from all locations.

Earlier in the day, AIADMK supporters and Jayalalithaa loyalists thronged temples across the state to pray for her bail, with women from different sections, background and age group performing special pujas for Amma, as Jayalalithaa is referred to. “I will tonsure my head if Amma gets released from jail,” 57- year-old Gangaiamma said.

In Bangalore, the order by Karnataka high court justice AV Chandrashekhara came after special public prosecutor Bhavani Singh told the court he had no objection to granting conditional bail to Jayalalithaa. The former CM is in prison in Bangalore since her conviction by the special court on September 27. Special court judge John Michael D’Çunha had awarded four-year imprisonment and slapped a Rs 100-crore fine on Jayalalithaa in the Rs 66.65-crore disproportionate assets case that has been on for the past 18 years.

The court also rejected the pleas for bail by Jayalalithaa's close aide Sasikala and her relatives VN Sudhakaran, and Ilavarasi, who have also been sent to four years in jail in the 18-year-old case.