Union finance minister Arun Jaitley meeting Jayalalithaa on Sunday night at her Poes Garden residence in Chennai has kicked off controversy.

Chennai-based political observers say, “The BJP is trying to strike a deal with AIADMK. BJP wants to strengthen the party within the State. On the other hand Jayalalithaa seeks to quash her conviction at the supreme court, otherwise her political career is sealed.”

Incidentally, Jaitley is also a well known advocate.

Political analyst Gnani Sankaran speaking to Governance Now says, “It is not proper for a union minister to meet a convicted person. BJP is doing this to increase its vote share but one needs to wait and watch whether the party gains from such moves.”

Sources say, Jayalalithaa’s disproportionate asset case was one of the agenda’s of the meeting. Jaitley is the first union minister to meet her since her conviction recently in a disproportional assets case which led her stepping down from office.

Last year in August union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called upon Jayalalithaa at her residence in Chennai. The meeting between Prasad and Jayalalithaa was also held to discuss the disproportionate asset case against the latter and help her get out of the case, say the insiders.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu parties slam Jaitley-Jayalalithaa meeting.

Karunanidhi issued a hard-hitting statement slamming the meeting. “Is it proper for a union minister to meet a convicted person,” the DMK patriarch questioned. Now the cat is out of the bag, he said. Jaitley is meeting Jayalalithaa when his ministry is dealing with her in an out of court settlement in IT case, Karunanidhi said and added the meeting coming ahead of the assets case verdict raises controversy.

BJP’s own ally PMK too hits out against the finance minister for the meeting, which raised suspicion. Congress state unit chief, EVKS Elangovan accused Jaitley of trampling political ethics by meeting Jayalalithaa. Karunanidhi’s son and DMK treasurer M K Stalin said, “For the first time in the history of a democratic nation, we have seen the finance minister of a country going to the house of a person convicted for corruption. Calling it a disgrace would be understating the issue. Is there any integrity left in the union government headed by the BJP?”