Sasikala opens conclave with expo on Jayalalithaa pic

Chennai: AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala on Monday kicked off the conclave of a well-known media group and inaugurated a photo exhibition on the life and times of her friend and former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa.

This is Sasikala’s first public event outside the party forum and she threw open the conclave by lighting the lamp in traditional Indian style. Though she did not make any formal speech, she told the editorial team that Jayalalithaa would have attended such an event for sure if she were alive. 

Flanked by Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and party’s Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan, an emotional Sasikala inaugurated a photo exhibition on the life of Jayalalithaa. As rare pictures of her late friend were beamed on the giant screen, Sasikala went emotional and tried to fight back tears.

This is the first time India Today, which has interests in both print and electronic media, is organising its conclave outside New Delhi. Immediately after inaugurating the photo exhibition, Sasikala left the venue for an “important meeting” of the AIADMK and was not present during Panneerselvam’s speech.

During his 15-minute speech, the Chief Minister spoke about his mentor Jayalalithaa, her achieveme-nts as chief minister and as a leader of the masses and how his government will continue to emulate her inclusive model of growth.
He also said Tamil Nadu would become the most attractive investment destination in India and one of the three most attractive in Asia with a total investment of Rs 15 lakh crore.

Mr Panneerselvam said his government “will follow the inclusive growth model developed by Amma - everyone should get everything.” The Tamil Nadu chief minister said that his government’s focus is not just to perform in sectors where it is already a top player but also achieve breakthrough in emerging sectors of biotechnology and information technology.