J Jayalalithaa's statue to be unveiled on Saturday

CHENNAI: Former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa’s full-size statue will be unveiled at the AIADMK headquarters on Saturday on the occasion of her 70th birth anniversary. Party coordinator O. Panneerselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami will do the honours at the party HQ on Avvai Shanmugam Salai on Saturday morning.

The leaders will also launch Namadhu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma – AIADMK’s new mouthpiece after unveiling the statue. Namadhu MGR, launched by J. Jayalalithaa to air her views following the death of her mentor M. G. Ramachandran in the late 1980s, went on to become the official propaganda arm of the AIADMK till her death in 2016. Jaya TV, launched in 1999, was also an integral part of Jayalalithaa’s publicity arm.

However, both the organisations went to the control of V K Sasikala family after the AIADMK split into two factions – one led by EPS-OPS and the other led by TTV Dhinakaran – leaving the party bereft of any mouthpiece. Jayalalithaa’s statue was to be installed at the AIADMK HQ last year but the plans were shelved due to then interim general secretary V K Sasikala’s conviction in the disproportionate assets case.

The newspaper, which will hit the stands on Saturday, will be edited by party spokesperson Marudhu Azhaguraj, who was removed as editor of Namadhu MGR by the Sasikala family in August last year. Unlike Namadhu MGR, Namadhu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma will be published from major cities in the state. Namadhu MGR is published only from Chennai. The move to launch the newspaper and a television channel, which is in works, was taken after Namadhu MGR and Jaya TV began blacking out news relating to the AIADMK Government since August 2017.