Chennai likely to get woman mayor after 44 years

CHENNAI: For the first time in 44 years, Chennai city's corporation council could be headed by a woman, as the state government is likely to reserve the mayor post for a female candidate.
According to informed government sources, the corporations of Chennai, Vellore, Salem, Coimbatore, Thanjavur and Dindigul will likely have women mayors sitting at the helm, once the local body polls slated for next month conclude.
Unlike in 2011, Chennai will have a mayor nominated from the party with a majority of the council seats, as the Tamil Nadu government, in June, passed a bill which scrapped direct elections.
Only two women have ever been mayors of Chennai in the city corporation's 328-year existence. Tara Cherian, noted social activist, was the first woman mayor from 1957-58. Later, Kamakshi Jayaraman was nominated by the DMK to the mayor post, which she held from 1971-72.
The last DMK mayor of the Greater Chennai Corporation, M Subramanian, said he was happy if the government chose to reserve Chennai's mayoralty for women. "They [AIADMK] have readied their [mayor] choices before selecting which cities will be reserved. Their district secretaries are single-handedly taking the decision of which cities will have a woman mayor," Subramanian said.
There is speculation among AIADMK party circles that two former ministers of the 2011-16 J Jayalalithaa regime are in the running for the post - B Valarmathi, the former social welfare minister, and S Gokula Indira, who held the ministries of tourism, handlooms and commercial taxes. Valarmathi, who steered clear of speculation, told TOI that the decision to appoint women mayors could be taken as "Amma (Jayalalithaa) believes women can achieve anything."
Noted advocate Sudha Ramalingam said that the move would be a welcome change, but added that this alone was not sufficient. "The attitudes of people nominated to the post should also change. We have seen that there are feminists among men and then there are females who are not at all sensitive to issues concerning women," she said.