After nearly seven months out of office, AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa is likely to assume office as Chief Minister on May 23, according to party sources.
While the date of swearing-in is not confirmed, it is now official that Ms. Jayalalithaa will be making her first public appearance on May 22, after the Karnataka High Court acquitted her a week earlier.
She will pay floral tribute to the statues of former Chief Ministers M.G. Ramachandran, C.N. Annadurai and social reformer Periyar along Anna Salai on Friday afternoon, according to a release from the party headquarters.
It is at the party headquarters in Royapettah the AIADMK MLAs would be meeting to elect their legislature party leader earlier the same day (Friday). The press release referred to her only as “people’s Chief Minister.”
Even as the AIADMK supremo remains tight-lipped about the date of her return to the office of the Chief Minister, some in the party’s inner circle said: “Saturday is astrologically a good day for Amma.”
AIADMK sources said the party has reached out to some senior leaders in the BJP in New Delhi, reportedly inviting them to attend the swearing-in ceremony, scheduled a day after the legislature party meeting.
While a senior BJP leader in Tamil Nadu told The Hindu that “it seems an invitation has reached Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s office,” a top BJP source in New Delhi said no decision on participation of party leaders’ has been taken so far.
Meanwhile, residents of R.K. Nagar constituency in Chennai are waiting for the by-poll in which Ms. Jayalalithaa is expected to contest. Already posters have sprung up in the constituency, one of the smallest area-wise and with a sizable slum population that has been well nurtured by the party MLAs in the past, said sources.
(Additional reporting by Sruthisagar Yamunan)
