Activists question as to how the state government can eulogize a person convicted of corruption and want the immediate removal of Jayalalithaa’s pictures from government websites. Though Palanisamy is mentioned as the chief minister, many pages of the government sites still describe Jayalalithaa as the “Honourable Chief Minister Selvi J. Jayalalithaa”

Chief Minister Edappaddi Palanisamy may have won legal legitimacy to fill in for Amma as the permanent head of the state government after winning trust vote, but he is still vary of replacing her pictures on the government websites.

Incidentally, even after many hours of winning trust vote on Monday, the state government website and those of its several departments still cling onto the images of the all-powerful Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, and even still maintain that she is the chief minister, a good over two months after passing away.

This form of sycophancy is not new to the Amma followers, as even former ‘caretaker’ Chief Minister O Panneerselvam refused to sit in the seat that Jayalalithaa sat as the chief minister and instead functioned for several days from his own chambers as the finance minister. He had to fill in for Amma after she was convicted and jailed by a Bengaluru trial court in the disproportionate assets case on September 27 2014.

All the while she was in jail and later out on bail but disqualified to hold office till Karnataka High Court acquitted her, OPS and his administration continued to persist with Amma’s pictures on the government websites.

For the AIADMK and its governments it is hardly an issue that Jayalalithaa and the current general secretary VK Sasikala were convicted and sentenced to four years by the Apex Court. And they simply carry on with Jayalalithaa’s pictures on the websites, kicking up a debate if a government ought to be endorsing the images of a person convicted of corruption.

The Supreme Court had on February 17 set aside the High Court acquittal and convicted all the four accused in the DA case, but the sentence against Jayalalithaa was abated as she passed away on December 5, 2016.

Even today, most of the TN Government’s Department of Information and Public Relations (TNDIPR) have Jayalalithaa’s pictures with captions reading “Honourable Chief Minister Selvi J. Jayalalithaa”.

Interestingly, the sub link to the Chief Minister has been updated and shows the name of the current CM Palanisamy, but other pages still swear by Amma, as if she continued to be the chief minister.

Other websites including the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Boards (HR & CE) and Coimbatore Municipal Corporation still carry pictures of Jayalalithaa.

However, websites including the Public Works Department have updated the photographs of the current CM Palanisamy.

Calling it lethargy of the concerned officials, activists have urged that the pictures of Jayalalithaa be removed immediately.

“The Government has not given importance to the websites even as we are moving towards Smart City Proposals and e-payments of Government bills,” they said.

Officials of the DIPR or state administration were not available for comments.