Jayalalithaa opts for change: New, young faces get opportunities

Chennai: Except for three Mayors, all others who occupied the posts in the state have been shown the door by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa as new and young faces have been rewarded with opportunities to fight for ward member posts.

The three Mayors who have retained their seats are from Tiruchy, Thanjavur and Salem. The Mayors in both Chennai and Vellore where the DMK registered spectacular victories have not been nominated for ward member posts.

The party retained both the Mayors in the delta districts for the municipal corporations of Tiruchy and Thanjavur.

Though, sitting Mayor Jaya gets a chance to contest in one ward, former Mayor Sarubala Thondaiman who defected from the TMC had also been nominated for another ward. The Mayor post for Jaya is not certain as Sarubala is a strong contender.

In the western districts, S. Soundappan of Salem alone has been nominated for ward member post and the other three for Tiruppur, Coimbatore and Erode have been dropped from the list of ward members.

Though, the AIADMK swept the western districts, the performance of the Mayors had attracted strong dissent among the people. Former minister M.S.M. Anandan has been fielded in one of the wards in Tiruppur. All the three Mayors in the southern districts for Madurai, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin have not been re-nominated by the AIADMK leadership.

In the municipalities, town panchayats and district panchayats, new faces, especially women have got chances in large numbers. But, a majority of them are relatives of men, who have been occupying the positions for more than a decade. Among the men candidates, the list is a mix of both young and experienced.