Chennai: Village committees of Alanganallur, Palamedu and Avaniyapuram — world famous for their jallikattu events — on Tuesday met Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and invited him to inaugurate the events during Pongal.
Representatives from the jallikattu organising committees of the three villages met Palaniswami at his camp office here and were accompanied by cooperatives minister Sellur K. Raju, revenue minister R. B. Uthayakumar and Madurai MLA Rajan Chellappa.
The world-famous Alanganallur jallikattu will be held on January 16, while Palamedu will have the event on January 15 and Avaniyapuram on January 14. It was not immediately clear whether Palaniswami would attend the events.
Last year, the then chief minister O. Panneerselvam returned disappointed after he was not allowed to inaugurate the festivities at Alanganallur due to opposition from villagers who demanded that the event be held only after the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a bill on jallikattu.
The jallikattu event was not held during Pongal in 2017 due to a Supreme Court ruling that banned the sport. However, massive protests that erupted forced the government to enact a state-specific law to allow holding of the event.
