Chennai: With J. Jayalalithaa to be sworn in Chief Minister on May 23, authorities began preparing for the ceremony to be held at the Madras University Centenary Auditorium on Wednesday.
From pruning of trees and relaying of roads, the city is being spruced up for the mega event. AIADMK functionaries have started erecting banners and hoardings terming their party leader ‘Lion lady of the Universe’.
The hoardings with the names of state ministers carried pictures of lions seated alongside the portrait of Jayalalithaa. The Chennai corporation has deployed hundreds of workers on roads between the secretariat and the Raj Bhavan. Granite stones etched along the median were washed and defective street lamps along the route were attended to. The PWD started cleaning the statues of the former chief ministers M. G. Ramachandran and C.N. Annadurai, and social reformer E.V.Ramasami (Periyar).
Ms Jayalalithaa will garland the statues on Friday. Meanwhile, celebrations and prayers in city temples for Ms Jayalalithaa’s healthy life continued for the 10 consecutive day. “We will continue to celebrate and this is Deepavali season for us. Till Amma assumes the coveted post, the celebrations will not stop,” said Saidapet MLA C. Senthamizhan. The venue is likely to be cordoned off by Friday. Party functionaries are now vying with one another to reserve places for putting up graffiti and hoardings.
Jayalalithaa appeals to cadres
The AIADMK on Wednesday said seven more persons allegedly committed suicide in the last one week as they were unable to bear the hardship party supremo J. Jayalalithaa suffered following her conviction in assets case last year.A party release said that so far 251 cadres haddied by hanging themselves or consuming poison or setting fire to themselves.
The party leader Jayalalithaa had announced a relief of Rs3 lakh to each of the families of the victims. She had directed party functionaries to console the bereaving families.Ms Jayalalithaa had
reiterated her appeal to partymen not to resort to such extreme steps as such acts brought trauma and pain to her. “So far, Rs 7.53 crore has been given to families of 251 persons,” the release added.
