Cadres of the AIADMK offered floral tributes to portraits of late Chief Minister and party founder M.G. Ramachandran in numerous street corners in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts on Tuesday on the occasion of his birth centenary.
They decorated MGR photos and played his hit numbers over the public address system since morning as elders recalled the contribution of the late leader.
Party leaders garlanded MGR statues and posed for photographs along with their supporters to record their respects to the party founder.
While every major street corner in Thanjavur city sported MGR portraits with flowers, in rural areas cadres and followers of MGR decorated makeshift stages with festoons, party flags, coconut frond and mango leaf thoranam as MGR’s hit numbers were played. In Thanjavur, many local party leaders garlanded the MGR statue near the Railway Junction after taking out a procession from the Kamarajar statue in the East Gate area.
In Kumbakonam, party leaders garlanded the statue of MGR at his alma mater the Yanayadi Elementary School on the occasion.
In Tiruvarur party local leaders including town secretary R.T. Murthy, district treasurer N. R. Panneerselvam, garlanded MGR statue on the Pudhu Theru. In the evening, Food Minister and party Tiruvarur district secretary R. Kamaraj distributed welfare measures at a function to mark the occasion.
In Mannargudi, party leaders including farmers wing district secretary Govindaraj, town secretary A.T. Madhavan, Jayalalithaa Peravai district secretary Pon Vasuki Ram and others garlanded the late CM's statue at Thiruparkadal area. In Thiruthuraipoondi, party cadres and leaders offered floral tributes to the MGR statue at Kattimedu area. Reports of celebrations have also come in from Nidamangalam, Nannilam, Kodavasal, Muthupettai and Valangaiman areas in the district.
Tiruchi
The birth centenary celebrations of AIADMK founder M. G. Ramachandran turned to be a show of strength between the AIADMK cadres and supporters of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s niece J. Deepa here on Tuesday.
Die-hard fans of MGR and followers were among the first to pay respect to the statue of their beloved leader.
Moments after they disbursed from the spot, supporters of Ms. Deepa took centre stage. They used the opportunity to showcase the support among the party for Deepa. Carrying AIADMK flags and pictures of MGR, Jayalalithaa and Deepa, they came in droves from different parts of the city to the MGR statue. Besides garlanding the statue, they voiced their support for Deepa and urged her to carry on the legacy of Jayalalithaa. The unorganised groups stayed put for more than an hour at the roundabout by raising slogans praising MGR, Jayalalithaa and Deepa.
Pudukottai
In Pudukottai, supporters of Ms. Deepa resorted to a brief road roko, demanding action against those preventing them from garlanding the MGR statue.
Trouble began when a group of AIADMK men objected to Ms. Deepa’s supporters taking out a rally to garland the statue. A few of the AIADMK cadre allegedly abused supporters of Ms. Deepa accusing them of acting against the party’s interest. Following this, the supporters of Ms. Deepa led by former AIADMK district secretary and Member of Parliament Raja Paramasivam blocked the road traffic near Raja’s College.
On information, the police rushed to the sport and held negotiations with them. As they refused to budge, they were detained. All those detained were later released.
