Tamil Nadu CPIM Secretary, G. Ramakrishnan today expressed hope that the Supreme Court would uphold the verdict given by special Judge, John Michael D’Cunha, convicting Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate asset case.

He told reporters that the verdict given by Judge D’Cunha was right and the Supreme Court, which would begin the final hearing on the appeal on February 2, should uphold it, paving way for Jayalalithaa to return to Jail.

Seeking a CBI probe into the granite scam, in which Sagayam Committee had submitted a 600-page report in the High Court, he claimed that in Madurai alone the Government had lost revenue of Rs.1.06 lakh crore, and this would amount to several lakh crore across the State.

He also called for setting up a Lok Ayukta to prevent corruption in the State. On the People Welfare Front (PWF), in which his party was a constituent, Ramakrishnan said the Front would create a new political culture in Tamil Nadu.

Stating that a conference to highlight the common minimum programme of PWF would be held in Madurai on January 26, he said the Party General Secretary Sitharam Yechuri and CPI General Secretary Sudhakar Reddy would participate.

He said that it was not important to name the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Front and also how many seats CPIM was contesting for, he said.

Though the Election Commission had asked for effectively utilising social networking for preventing irregularities in the poll process, it should also take stringent action against such people who indulged in irregularities and also prevent the distribution of money, he urged.

The Government should totally weed out the practice of usury, which has led to the suicide of many families, with the recent one in Gudalur yesterday.

The notification on Jallikkattu was a welcome step, but some political parties were trying to gain political mileage out of it, Ramakrishnan said.