Chennai: Residents of R.K. Nagar in the city thronged the route of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on her visit to her constituency on Monday to thank the voters.
Addressing the crowd, the AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister said the people of the constituency had a special place in her heart. “I am moved by the affection showered on me whenever I visit the area”.
She said the people had made her Chief Minister for the sixth time and for the second consecutive time. “When you elected me last time, I brought several development schemes to R.K. Nagar. You have elected me again. I will fulfil all the poll promises and I will do everything to develop the constituency”, she said.
Evan as her vehicle started from her residence at Poes Garden earlier, people had stood along the route with party flags, the AIADMK leader’s portraits and placards of ‘two leaves’ to greet their leader.
Banners, flex boards and life size cut out were conspicuous by their absence, perhaps indicating a changed environment after the senior leader’s record election in 2016 which defied the anti-incumbency vote 32 years after her mentor MGR had won an election for a successive term as CM in 1984.
After her vehicle entered Royapuram, the crowd got thicker in the neighbourhood even as a cool sea breeze started sweeping the area. As her vehicle approached the entry point of R.K. Nagar, people who had gathered in very large numbers stood as one to cheer the CM’s speech.
A large crowd of women were seen waiting all along the route. Flowers strewn in the path of her vehicle made for colourful scenes just as people cheered lustily, clapped and shouted slogans hailing ‘Puratchi Thalaivi’. Drum beats, songs praising the leader and dance programmes were part of the distinct festival atmosphere on Monday in R.K. Nagar.
Even after their leader left the area, people kept celebrating her visit and music programmes and drum beats continued into the evening. People remained in the streets proudly displaying to each other the photos they had taken on their mobiles.
Muthuselvam, a resident of Nehru Nagar in Korukkupet, said “We are sure that our constituency will develop in the next five years. This is an economically and socially backward area with numerous problems including traffic congestion, lack of transport and other facilities. The area had started developing already and it will see more development. We are very happy about it”.
