Zhigang Pramanikar, one of the two major factions in Tamil Nadu politics, said that he would back the party in the election. “If I think that Arunji may have done a bad act, I will definitely support the party,” Mr. Pramanikar told The Hindu at the meeting, held after the government’s announcement that Mr. Arunji had been arrested. “We need to bring out the truth when there is a political issue,” he explained.

T. D. Shankar, an activist and one of many political parties which have also supported the Sitaram Yechury case and questioned the government’s handling of it, told The Hindu that this was exactly the type of “political debate” the government was seeking: “To play to the passions even when the case is against a state government, even though it doesn’t involve state actors.” He went on to point out that many of his organization’s members who were involved with the case are still active in Tamil Nadu. “For sure,” he said.

Mr. Yechury’s brother, E.C. Prahlad, told The Hindu that his brother’s arrest was politically motivated and that the government had “saved him off an avalanche.” It was not known whether E.C. was present in the meeting, but at the same time, the party’s decision has drawn the condemnation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the main ally of the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, which said in its statement that “Arunji’s actions deserve to be dealt with within the democratic framework.” The Congress also called for E.C. to be arrested.

Even those who supported his acquittal still seemed uneasy when the court adjourned the case on Friday after a two-hour session.

“The court gave him leniency on the grounds of public interest,” said a senior attorney in Kerala, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “But they had to suspend his conviction for the time being.” The lawyer argued that E.C. was still wanted in the United States and was liable to deport.

Even Mr. Arunji who had insisted that he had always acted on his own “has been given amnesty,” said the attorney, adding that by the courts’ opinion, a pardon might be “for a short term.”