Jayalalithaa death anniversary: Edappadi K Palaniswami pays tribute to ex-Tamil Nadu CM at her memorial

Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was remembered on Saturday on her fourth death anniversary, with top AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami leading supporters in paying tributes to her. The party pledged to fulfill the late chief minister’’s dreams by scoring a hat trick of electoral victories in next year’s Assembly elections. Palaniswami, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, is AIADMK co- ccordinator while his deputy Panneerselvam is the party coordinator. Clad in black shirts, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam paid floral tributes at the Jayalalithaa memorial in the Marina with their cabinet colleagues and senior leaders in company. MPs, MLAs and hundreds of party functionaries too paid their tributes at Jayalalithaa’s memorial, which was decorated with flowers. Later, Panneerselvam administered a pledge to the members to fulfill the dream of Jayalalithaa, saying she had dedicated 34 years of her life to the party and the people. “Let us pledge to continue working for the welfare of the people and also strive for a hat-trick victory in the assembly election,” the pledge said. The AIADMK members observed two minutes’ silence as a mark of respect to the departed leader, whom they hail as “Puratchi Thalaivi”, meaning revolutionary leader. Months after leading her party to a successive win in the 2016 Assembly polls in the state, Jayalalithaa was hospitalised in Chennai on 22 September and passed away on 5 December that year after 75 days of hospitalisation. Meanwhile, Amma Makkal Munntera Kazhagam (AMMK), founded by TTV Dhinakaran, nephew of jailed former aide of Jayalalithaa, VK Sasikala, also remembered the late leader. BJP leaders also paid tributes to the late chief minister. The party’s national general secretary and in-charge of Tamil Nadu CT Ravi, posted a photo of Jayalalithaa flashing her party’s “Two Leaves” symbol on Twitter and said “remembering Puratchi Thalaivi, J Jayalalithaa on Her Punya Tithi.” “Fondly known as Amma, She worked for the progress & development of Tamil Nadu. Through her numerous welfare schemes, Amma transformed the lives of Tamil Makkal (people). She will forever remain in the hearts of people,” he said in the tweet. Union AYUSH minister Shripad Y Naik too paid rich tributes to her, saying, “today remembering late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa ji on her death anniversary. Her contribution towards overall development of #Tamil Nadu will always be remembered.” In neighbouring Puducherry, the local unit of the AIADMK paid respects to the late Jayalalithaa. Legislators and delegates of different wings of the party’s UT unit, led by its secretary (East wing) A Anbalagan, MLA, paid homage to her. Anbalagan recalled Jayalalithaa’s administrative skill and proficiency.