AIADMK celebrates centenary of former CM Janaki Ramachandran recalls her efforts to unite party

    Chennai, Nov 24 (PTI) The AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Sunday celebrated the birth centenary of former Chief Minister Janaki Ramachandran, wife of late party founder M G Ramachandran, here.

    Janaki was the first woman chief minister of Tamil Nadu, who headed the state briefly in January 1988 after the death of her husband and then CM Ramachandran, popularly addressed as MGR.

    AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami led the celebrations at a marriage hall in the city. Besides Palaniswami, scores of leaders and celebrities, including actor Rajinikanth and DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakant paid rich tributes to the late Janaki.

    Palaniswami and Rajinikanth hailed Janaki for her efforts in uniting the party, which suffered a split post MGR's death in December 1987.

    A yesteryear actor, Janaki Ramachandran was sworn-in as CM of the state following MGR's death, even as the party had split into two factions. The respective factions were headed by Janaki and late CM J Jayalalithaa.

    However, in 1989, she buried her differences with Jayalalithaa and handed over the AIADMK's leadership to her.

    Recalling this episode, Rajinkanth in a video message played out at the venue said Janaki told Jayalalithaa that she was the one capable of taking forward the AIADMK and handed over the party to her and later kept away from politics.

    In his address, Palaniswami recalled the life and times of Janaki, pointing out that she had paired opposite Ramachandran in films including 'Marutha Nattu Ilavarasi.' She stood by her husband through different phases of life, including when he was shot at and injured by late actor M R Radha.
    The building housing the AIADMK headquarters, 'MGR Maaligai,' was donated by Janaki, he said.

    Though the party split after Ramachandran's death, and its popular Two Leaves symbol frozen, Janaki later reached out to Jayalalithaa, he said.

    "Janaki knew to whom the party should be handed over and did it accordingly and Amma (Jayalalithaa) had the capability," to lead the AIADMK, the former CM said.

    Stressing on the importance of the Two Leaves symbol, he said while the party suffered electoral failure post the split in its absence, it, however, bounced back with two by-poll wins later, after securing it even while being in the opposition.

    He said both MGR and Jayalalithaa faced many challenges from the then ruling DMK in leading the party but later took the AIADMK to ruling saddle with "massive public support," and that the party has cumulatively ruled Tamil Nadu for 31 years.

    Referring to the criticism about party's recent electoral defeats, he asked if the DMK did not go through a similar phase in 10 years, referring to the 2011-21 period when the AIADMK was in power. In fact, DMK had won only two seats in 1991 but came to power five years later, he pointed out.

    Palaniswami exuded confidence his party will emerge victorious in the next general elections, due in 2026 and urged his party workers to take forward the legacy of MGR and Jayalalithaa and do effective public service.

    Taking a dig at the ruling DMK, Palaniswami, the Leader of Opposition, dubbed it as a "family party."

    "It is (M) Karunanidhi's family party. Only that family members can become party chief and come to power. But in AIADMK, whoever works hard, is loyal to the party, any such person can become general secretary, MLA, minister and even chief minister," he said.

    He also asserted no effort to break the AIADMK will fructify.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)