Jayalalitha is sworn in as CM for third time

IANS/Chennai

O Paneerselvam bows to Chief Minister J Jayalalitha before taking his oath as Tamil Nadu’s finance minister at Madras University Centenary Auditorium in Chennai yesterday

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader J Jayalalitha, 63, was yesterday sworn-in as Tamil Nadu chief minister for a third time.She was administered the oath by Governor Surjit Singh Barnala at a packed hall in Madras University as thousands lined up the nearby roads.Jayalalitha will head a 34-member government in the 14th Tamil Nadu assembly. Barnala also administered oath of office to the other ministers, days after the AIADMK-led alliance dealt a crushing blow to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led by veteran M Karunanidhi.Senior politicians including Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu as well as Tamil film personalities were present at the event.The swearing-in ceremony was also attended by Communist Party of India (CPI) leader A B Bardhan, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) leaders A Vijayakanth and Panrutti S Ramachandran, Samathuva Makkal Katchi (SMK) leader R Sarathkumar and his wife Radhika and political commentator Cho Ramaswamy.Chief Justice of the Madras High Court M Y Eqbal, other judges and members of the Bar Council were also present.All those who were present at the hall, including Jayalalitha, had a hearty laugh when C Karuppasamy took oath in a loud rhythmic staccato voice as the minister for animal husbandry.A large number of people gathered at the venue. People lined up on both sides of the road, starting from Jayalalitha’s residence at Poes Garden and along the entire stretch of Kamaraj Salai on the Marina up to the Madras University campus.Two giant screens were installed outside the venue so that people could watch the ceremony.Leaders of the rival camp – the DMK, Congress and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) - stayed away.The AIADMK-led front won 203 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly. TMeanwhile Modi, who was invited to the swearing-in ceremony, said the AIADMK’s victory will have its echo on the national politics.The Gujarat chief minister said the AIADMK’s victory was a verdict against corruption and price rise. Modi said he was confident that Jayalalitha would give an efficient administration. On Sunday, Jayalalitha was congratulated by Sonia Gandhi and was invited by the Congress president for tea. Meanwhile DMK leader T K S Elangovan said the 2G corruption row was “not a factor” in the polls.“It was not even a minor factor,” Elangovan said when asked if the telecom licence allocation scandal played a role in the DMK’s crushing defeat. A veteran of Tamil Nadu politics, Elangovan said he had no clue why the DMK was trounced.“It is difficult to find out the reasons. I don’t know why it happened. People need a performing government and we performed well. All sections (of the society) benefited while people had suffered a lot during the (earlier) governments led by Jayalalitha,” he said.Asked about a possible realignment of forces in Tamil Nadu, Elangovan expressed confidence that the Congress would not go with the AIADMK. “I don’t think the Congress will prefer the AIADMK. She (Jayalalitha) is the most unreliable ally,” he said.Asked if the party felt let down by the Congress, Elangovan said the polls were for the state assembly and not for parliament. “It was not an election for the central government, (it was to be decided) how our leaders performed and how Jayalalitha performed,” he said. Elangovan said the spectrum controversy had little or no impact. Former telecom minister A Raja of the DMK is in jail in connection with the scam. DMK MP Kanimozhi, who is also the daughter of outgoing chief minister Karunanidhi, has been named an accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “Even in Raja’s Lok Sabha constituency of Nilgiris, we won two of the four assembly seats. The 2G was not a reason. Beyond that what happened, we will find out,” he said.