Take vow for AIADMK's win in state poll: Jayalalithaa to party cadres

Chennai: With elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly months away, AIADMK General Secretary and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday put her party cadre in the poll mode, asking them to take a vow to ensure a massive victory for the party by highlighting her government's achievements.

In a message to party workers ahead of the 107th birth anniversary of Dravidian veteran CN Annadurai tomorrow, Jayalalithaa said that she was entrusting them with this "huge task" on the occasion.

"The huge task I place before you on Anna's birth anniversary is that you should highlight the AIADMK government's achievements among the people and ensure a massive victory in the coming elections," she said.

Jayalalithaa said the partyworkers should work hard to ensure AIADMK's massive victory, which should subsequently be dedicated to Annadurai and party founder late M G Ramachandran, an actor-turned politician.

Annadurai founded DMK and led the first non-Congress government in the state after Independence in the 1960s.

Charismatic Ramachandran, who was a DMK member, walked out of the party following differences with M Karunanidhi and founded the AIADMK in 1972 and named it after Anna, as Annadurai was fondly addressed by his supporters.

Without naming her arch-rival Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa said he had become Chief Minister with the help of Ramachandran in the midst of an "extraordinary situation," following Annadurai's demise in 1969.

However, he had turned the party founded by Annadurai to serve Tamils into "a family property", she alleged.

Jayalalithaa said she had the "God-sent" opportunity of serving the people and was "diligently" doing it, walking the path laid by Annadurai and Ramachandran, ensuring all-round welfare including for women.

Describing last week's maiden two-day Global Investors Meet held here as a "grand success", Jayalalithaa said it had attracted over Rs 2.42 lakh crore of investment commitments which would benefit various sectors, especially the southern parts of the state and usher in numerous employment opportunities.