Chennai, Feb 24 (UNI) The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu celebrated the
70th birth anniversary of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa by unveiling
her life-statue bronze statue at the party office in the city on Saturday.
Chief Minister and AIADMK Joint Coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami
and Deputy Chief Minister and Coordinator O Panneerselvam unveiled
the seven ft high statue in the presence of senior party leaders, Ministers,
MPS and MLAs.
The statue was installed adjacent to AIADMK Founder MGR's statue at
the party office.
After unveiling the statue, both Mr Palaniswami and Mr Panneerselvam
launched the 'Namadhu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma', a Tamil daily, that would
be the official mouthpiece of the party.
The decision to launch its own official organ was taken at AIADMK meeting
last month after the existing 'Dr Namathu MGR' and 'Jaya TV' started by
Ms Jayalalithaa went into the control of the family members of deposed
AIADMK leaders V K Sasikala and her nephew and RK Nagar MLA TTV
Dhinakaran after the death of the former Chief Minister.
The AIADMK was also mulling to launch its own TV channel.
Later, Mr Palaniswami and Panneerselvam, along with senior party leaders,
paid floral tributes at the statue of Ms Jayalalithaa and MGR to mark the
occasion and distributed sweets to the scores of AIADMK cadres, who had
thronged the party headquarters.
The Chief Minister also presented a golden ring to the person, who sculpted
the statue of Ms Jayalalithaa.
The Party office was tastefully decorated to mark the birth anniversary of
Ms Jayalalithaa and a 70 kg cake was cut to mark the occasion.
A slew of functions were organised by various wings of the party across the
state to mark the occasion.
Ms Jayalalithaa's pet project 'Amma Two-wheeler subsidy scheme' would be
launched later in the evening by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
To mark Ms Jayalalithaa's birth anniversary, 70 lakh saplings would be planted
across the state and it would also be launched by Mr Modi, that would significantly
enhance the green cover of the state.
UNI GV 1135