Chennai: An overzealous AIADMK functionary caused a flutter at the Marina beach on Monday when he installed a bust-sized statue of J. Jayalalithaa at the place where she was laid to rest on Dec. 6.
The statue, made of plaster-of-Paris, was removed after a few hours when the state officials discovered that it did not have the party’s sanction. But by then, several hundred AIADMK loyalists and members of the public had gone round the statue placed next to Jayalalithaa's portrait.
State Ministers R.B. Udayakumar (Revenue) and Sevoor S. Ramachandran (HR&CE) accompanied by party followers arrived at the site and paid homage to Jayalalithaa's portrait after tonsuring their heads. “The police was given the task of guarding the MGR memorial and the nearby site where Jayalalitha was laid to rest.
The cops on duty did not stop the person bringing her statue as they assumed he had the necessary approvals. When we got the alert that there was no such clearance from above, we removed the statue”, said a senior police officer requesting anonymity.
