Venkaiah Naidu to represent Centre at Jayalalithaa's swearing-in ceremony

New Delhi: Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu will represent the Centre at the swearing-in ceremony of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in Chennai on Monday.

Jayalalithaa had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the oath-taking function after her win against DMK in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

Currently, the PM is on a visit to Iran and Naidu has been asked to represent the central government, sources said.

In 2011, her swearing-in was attended by Modi, who was then the Gujarat Chief Minister, besides a host of other dignitaries.

She will be sworn-in for a second consecutive tenure along with 28 ministers.

It will be 68-year-old Jayalalithaa's fourth term in office. Her earlier tenures as Chief Minister were 1991-96, 2001-06 and 2011-16.