J Jayalalithaa Takes Oath As Chief Minister Of Tamil Nadu For The 6th Time

Chennai: J Jayalalithaa, 68, on Monday was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tami Nadu for the sixth time. The AIADMLK chief led her party to victory in the recently-concluded assembly elections. Of the 232 seats (for two seats elections postponed to June), AIADMK won in 134 seats.

The consecutive victory is a rare feat for a political party, which happened almost 35 years back, again for AIADMK. Despite the rivalry between the two parties, DMK treasurer M K Stalin has attended the swearing-in ceremony. This will be the second time Stalin attended Jayalalithaa’s swearing. In 2001, as Chennai mayor, he along with a few DMK leaders attended the function.

It may be noted, unlike in neighboring states the two main rivals – AIADMK and DMK – don’t see eye to eye. In fact, DMK’s chief did not attend the assembly sessions when the other is in power. Interestingly, Karunanidhi greeted Pinarayi Vijayan (elected as CM in Kerala), Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) and Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam) but not Jayalalithaa.

This time, DMK has emerged as the strong opposition in the assembly as it won 89 seats, along with eight seats won by its ally Congress.

AIADMK general secretary and her 28 Cabinet colleagues were sworn in by Governor K Rosaiah on Monday at the Madras University’s Centenary Hall. The list included 13 new faces and four women MLAs. S Semmalai has been named as pro-tem Speaker. VIPs who have attended the event include Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Nirmala Seetharaman. Jayalalithaa has invited Prime Minister for the ceremony.