The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Deputy Mayor returns to office, after a hiatus

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 28, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Deputy Mayor returns to office, after a hiatus

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: Chennai Deputy Mayor `Karate' R. Thiagarajan returned to Ripon Buildings, the civic headquarters, after a gap of more than six months, on Thursday.

Garlands statue

He garlanded the statue of Sir Pitti Theagaraya Chettiyar, first elected president of the Madras Corporation under the Madras City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919, on the occasion of his birth anniversary celebrations.

Some Congress party councillors accompanied Mr. Thiagarajan. He had joined the party recently after six months in hiding following alleged threats from the ruling AIADMK.

While interacting with the media, the Deputy Mayor said he would convene the Corporation council next month. To a query on how he would handle the AIADMK councillors who had voted him the Deputy Mayor in the council, he asked the media to wait and find out what kind of opposition he would receive after the coming Assembly elections.

Charge

Mr. Thiagarajan alleged that Corporation Commissioner M.P. Vijayakumar acted as if he were "an agent of AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa."

Just a few days before going into hiding in September last (when he was in the AIADMK), Mr. Thiagarajan had accused Mr. Vijayakumar of being partial towards the DMK.

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