Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay wants a permanent Supreme Court bench in Chennai. But is this a long-standing demand for easier access to justice, or a calculated political move to position himself as the voice of the South?
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 4, Vijay revived a 46-year-old demand that successive Tamil Nadu governments have pursued without success.
With the Supreme Court rejecting the proposal in 2007 and the constitutional process requiring the Chief Justice of India’s recommendation, can Delhi make it happen?
With just 109 seats in a 234-member Assembly, is Vijay using the demand to strengthen his political standing, assert Tamil Nadu's rights and build a larger federal agenda?
Watch Prabhu Chawla decode the politics, legal hurdles and federal implications behind Vijay’s demand in this episode of Bottomline.