Jaya reluctant to walk the red carpet after 7-month hiatus

The red carpet was literally laid out below the Gemini flyover for AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa to reach the statue of Periyar, the Dravidian movement founder. Yet her airconditioned Land Cruiser drove over it to the statue located beside a civic garden where mango trees were in bloom.
She alighted, garlanded a portrait at the base of the statue and was gone in four minutes, flashing the victory sign.There was no comeback speech ahead of her swearing-in, much to the disappointment of vociferous supporters. They had gathered there three hours in advance, braving the 40°C heat, banging out a steady beat on their drums, waving party flags and holding balloons with the twoleaves symbol. Some slumped to the grass, biting into their water sachets to cool themselves and rest Amma' arrived at 3.22pm.till ` Ten minutes earlier, on Anna Salai, her car was again driven close to the MGR bust for the garlanding ceremony . The crowd had started gathering there from around 11am. The only source of shade for the party workers were the huge posters put up around the spot.
Around 1.30pm, senior party leaders -who stood out in their crisp white shirts and veshtis -stood in a line to greet Amma, adjusting the picture of Jayalalithaa in their see-through pockets. They all craned their necks every time they saw an SUV emerging from the dust. When they finally saw Jayalalithaa's vehicle approach, they stood with their hands folded and heads bowed.
The vehicle stopped right next to the garlanded statue of MGR.She got out and waved to the crowd and slowly moved towards the statue where a picture of the late chief minister waited with a plate full of flowers. She moved forward, splayed petals on the photo and moved back to her vehicle, even as party leaders surrounded her to catch her attention.
It took all of two or three minutes and she was whisked away .Again, no speech. Many had waited for three hours. Some were spotted witnessing the programme from atop tall buildings in the vicinity.
At the Anna statue hundreds of party workers were waiting anxiously to see Amma since early morning. Functionaries from places like Erode, Tiruvallur and Kallakurichi thronged the arterial road, where MGR look-alikes enacted dance sequences from popular films, entertaining the gathering. Scores of ministers, who were nervous about the portfolio changes, were all smiles when the story broke out and they saw it on their mobile phones. They profusely greeted Jayalalithaa, when she dropped in at 3pm to pay floral tributes to former chief minister Annadurai.